CDC Expects Mild Season for West Nile
ATLANTA — After two record-breaking years of West Nile virus illnesses and deaths, the nation is experiencing a relatively mild season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
CDC data shows 2,282 people have been sickened by the mosquito-borne virus and 77 have died. This time last year, there were 8,219 illnesses and 182 deaths.
The virus went on to sicken 9,858 and kill 262 in 2003. There were 4,156 cases and 284 deaths in 2002.
The numbers of cases in 2002 and 2003 in the United States reflected the largest West Nile epidemics ever recorded, said Dr. Ned Hayes, a CDC West Nile expert.
The CDC does not know why the numbers declined. Temperature, rainfall and prevention could be factors, Hayes said.
"The use of preventive measures by people in terms of insect repellent, also the community approaches to reduce the abundance of mosquitoes makes a difference, too," he added. "We are still learning about the epidemiology and ecology of West Nile transmission."
This year, the greatest numbers of cases were in areas that did not have much virus activity last year – California (737 cases, 20 deaths) and Arizona (381 cases, 10 deaths). Most cases were in the central to western parts of the country, Hayes said.
West Nile was first detected in New York in 1999. About 20 percent of people infected with the virus become ill; about 1 percent develop serious neurological disease, such as inflammation of the brain or polio-like paralysis.
—
On the Net: