West Nile [virus] sickens Kenner patient
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A Kenner man who was hospitalized last month with "severe neurological symptoms" was found Monday to have contracted the potentially deadly West Nile virus, the first human case reported in Louisiana.
The middle-aged man, said to be a drifter who spent an unusual amount of time on the streets, remains in stable condition at Kenner Regional Medical Center, a hospital spokesperson said. The man frequented the area near the Kenner-Metairie line where 5 dead birds have tested positive for West Nile in recent months.
"It is not extraordinary that a person who is outside a lot and not taking [anti-mosquito] precautions has come down with the disease," said Dr. Raoult Ratard, state epidemiologist. "But I don't think we are going to have an outbreak. It's very late in the season."
[Mosquitos stop breeding in cold weather -- but see below. - Mod JW]
The man was admitted to Kenner Regional Medical Center on 29 Sep 2001.. Officials would not elaborate on his symptoms. They said that after extensive testing to rule out other illnesses, doctors checked for West Nile encephalitis. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Fort Collins, Colorado, confirmed Monday that he had West Nile [virus].
Twenty-five people have been infected this year with the brain-swelling West Nile virus, in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Florida and Georgia, according to a CDC report released this month. One patient has died.
Ratard said doctors think the man was bitten by an infected mosquito around 15 Sep 2001. No other human cases are suspected in the area, he said.
West Nile encephalitis cases occur primarily in the late summer or early fall, but the disease can be transmitted year-round in Southern climates where temperatures are milder, according to the CDC. Besides the dead birds found in Jefferson Parish, the state has confirmed the virus in 5 horses in Vermilion Parish, proving West Nile is established in Louisiana, Ratard said.
Mosquito Control Inc., which contracts with Jefferson Parish to spray insecticide, has stepped up ground and aerial spraying within a 3-mile radius of where the dead birds were found and is using the highest concentration of insecticide allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency, officials said.
(By Martha Carr )
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