Louisiana Confirms Four West Nile Virus Deaths

Reuters.com ^ | August 02, 2002 01:46 PM ET | By Michael Depp

[Reverenist133]

By Michael Depp

BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - The West Nile virus has killed four of the 58 people in Louisiana known to have been infected with the rare mosquito-borne illness, putting this year's outbreak on pace to become the largest ever in the United States, state health officials said on Friday.

"There is no sign that this is going to go down. This is only the beginning," said Dr. Raoult Ratard, an epidemiologist with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. "We'll probably end up with the worst outbreak."

(more)...

[Reverenist133]

Possibly resulting from poor border/immigration control...

[My Favorite Headache]

Here comes a thread of 150+ on how the west nile virus is a government conspiracy.

[caa26]

Please explain how West Nile has to do with border control/immigration?

[Centurion2000]

Interesting .....

[chemainus]

infected with the rare mosquito-borne illness, putting this year's outbreak on pace to become the largest ever in the United States, state health officials said on


RARE ??? Where the hell do they get their info? the comic books? there's nothing rare about WNV... get prepared for more like it... you now have the vector ...

[HairOfTheDog]

The dang mosquitos never have green cards... and the gubmint lets 'em get away with it.

[Cachelot]

Here comes a thread of 150+ on how the west nile virus is a government conspiracy.

It is not, of course. But it's very probable that it was planted in the US deliberately.

There is also a virus in the same family, USUV, which is currently breaking into Europe. Strangely enough, that variant seems to have been altered - it's not quite identical to the original virus. USUV has never been seen outside of Africa before, and has never caused deaths. Now it's out, and kills.

[dawn53]

When I was a kid we always were warned to stay indoors during outbreaks of St. Louis Encephalitis.

If you've got mosquitos, you've got encephalitis, that's my take on the issue.

[TheDon]

"The four victims, the first in the United States this year, include an 83-year-old woman and three men, aged 53, 72 and 75. All four suffered from other illnesses that weakened their immune systems and made them more vulnerable to the deadly form of the infection, Ratard said."

[mercy]

It's time to bring back DDT. Sorry Bald Eagles but people should come first.

[LikeLight]

Mercy, I think you'll find that the claims of DDT weakening the egg shells of birds of prey were overblown anyway . . . one of the early environmentalist wacko "panic science" victories . . .

[blam]

I was out cutting the grass this morning and I was bitten by four mosquitos. So...if you all don't hear from me anymore....

[KevinDavis]

Could this be bio-terror?

[mercy]

Well I was being charitable. What's several million human deaths due to a host of mosquito born viruses compared to maintaining one's proper respect for lying PC envirowhacko theories anyway?

I've yet to hear anyone wonder out loud just why it is we can vacinate our horses against this epidemic but not ourselves? Could it be that the wonderful gubmint CDC is not working overtime on this?

[rabbitdog]

What were these four immune-challenged elderly people doing outside where mosquitos could bite them anyway?

[who knows what evil?]

It's time to bring back DDT. Sorry Bald Eagles but people should come first.

Dear Satan:

Please add four more deaths to Rachel Carson's tab, please.

[blam]

FOX News: Louisiana governor has declared a state of emergency.

[bandlength]

if it is a gov't. conspiracy, then floriduh is in a lot of trouble as the mosquito is their state bird.

[bandlength]

golf?

well, time to buy stock in those companies that make those CO2 mosquito traps. . .

[Bogey78O]

As a guy who works outdoors in St. Tammany Parish and has to deal with areas where mosquitos breed this gives me pause.