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CDC
West Nile virus cases, which are spread by mosquitoes, continue to rise in the U.S., health officials said.
West Nile cases in the U.S. continue to climb, jumping 25 percent in a week, with 1,993 cases nationwide and 87 deaths in the country’s worst outbreak for this time of year since the virus was detected here in 1999, health officials said Wednesday.
Texas continues to log the most cases, with at least 888 reported illnesses and 35 deaths, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Dr. David L. Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said his latest figures actually show that Texas has reported 1,013 cases and 40 deaths.
"Officially, this is the worst week ever for West Nile in Texas," Lakey said.
The nationwide numbers were up from 1,590 cases and 65 deaths reported Aug. 28, said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, director of the CDC's division of vector-borne infectious diseases.
"We expect this increase to continue for the next several weeks, probably until October," said Petersen, who added that he was infected with the virus himself a few years ago. Many cases have not yet been logged because of the lag in reporting time, he said.
More than half the cases -- 54 percent -- are the serious neuroinvasive variety, which can lead to encephalitis or meningitis. The vast majority of West Nile infections, some 80 percent, are so mild that people don't know they're infected. About 20 percent develop symptoms and about 1 percent may develop serious, neuro-invasive illnesses.
West Nile has been detected in 48 states, with human cases reported in 44 states, Petersen said. Five other states -- Missississippi, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and California -- also continue to report high numbers of cases.
The outbreak is still far shy of the worst year ever for West Nile virus infections and deaths in the U.S. In 2003, 9,862 cases were reported and 264 people died, according to the CDC's records.
The disease is spread by infected mosquitoes, which breed in water. Officials have said a mild spring, hot weather and heavy rains may have contributed to the epidemic this year, but they're not sure. Other factors include the type and number of infected mosquitoes, the number of birds that become infected and other factors, he said.
“There’s a very complicated ecology to the transmission of these viruses in nature,” Petersen said. Why the outbreak is so bad in Texas is a matter of speculation, he added.
The outbreak may have begun to peak, said health officials, who hope they're seeing a decline in cases -- and in mosquitoes that test positive for the virus, Lakey said. Sprayed pesticides appear to have reduced the population of mosquitoes, he added.
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- West Nile spreads across the US, but don't expect a hurricane effect
- Is spraying for West Nile safe?
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The invasive species Asian Tiger Mosquito has spread widely throughout the country over the last few years. This aggressive insect bites all day, instead of just dawn and dusk like most mosquitoes, and can carry WNV. I'd like to see some research on whether the rise of WNV and the Asian Tiger are linked.
"The Tiger Mosquito Aedes albopictus is an epidemiologically important vector for the transmission of many viral pathogens, including the West Nile virus, Yellow fever virus, St. Louis encephalitis, dengue fever, and Chikungunya fever, as well as several filarial nematodes."
You won't see much research on whether there is a direct association between the mosquito type and particular diseases because 1) most people getting WNV have no symptoms at all and have no idea what bit them or when, 2) knowing which mosquito does not change the course of the disease process or its treatment, 3) there is such a disconnect between when a person is bit and when the disease manifests itself that it is almost impossible to recall and 4) the methods used to control mosquitoes are the same for the Tiger.
They can look at mosquitos and see what pathogens they are carrying, but that is about it. There are just too many other variables to fraw further conclusions.
It is because of Obama. They have been watching him suck the blood out of the middle class killing them.
As usual the ASININE POLITICAL TROLLS are on the loose trying make every article they read about politics. Please go away!
Spraying may kill the mosquitoes, but it also wipes out the frogs and bees.
Not a good solution.
BS!
@Psychotica,
Mexico and the rest of Central America ALL have higher vaccination rates than the USA! More likely they will catch "Third World diseases" by coming here where people are still claiming that vaccinations are causing autism, diabetes, and poor self-esteem among their loser children.
west nile infected birds have been found in my town-- we had a dead crow in our front yard here in Jersey.
That's because no one wants to live in NJ ;)
LOL-- could be....
@Marla,
Sometimes leaving a dead crow (or raven) in someone's yard is a polite Italian way as asking them to move. Have you consulted your neighbors about it?
Crows are what scientists call a "reservoir" for West Nile. That means that crows are frequently infected with the disease, and that the virus can duplicate very rapidly in crows. It jumps to humans through a "vector" organism. For West Nile, the vector is mosquitoes. The bugs prefer to bite the crows, taking up some of their infected blood and spreading the disease quickly among the crow population. West Nile is quickly fatal to crows, though, so the crow population crashes, and the mosquitoes are forced to feed on other organisms (like, say, us). When they bite a person, some of the infected blood enters the blood stream, carrying the virus with it.
God may be punishing Texas for George W. Bush, Governor Rick "Oops" Perry and the American Taliban infesting the Texas State Board of "Education". How's that science picture book of Adam and Eve riding dinosaurs working out for ya?
Another ASININE TROLL!
It also punishing fascist Jerry Brown and that state full of radical leftists. Oops, another pathetic liberal liar bites the dust.
Does anyone care..... Either the Congress with the Lobbyists will kill people or a Plague..... Is there a difference?
We were warned that Global Warming would make the tropics move northward. Species of insects that have never ventured north have even been found in the low-to-mid reaches of the Himalyas, which was also predicted. We need to keep the deet handy!
Yet another stupid post. It's in 48 states, that means it's in cooler climates as well. Move along troll.
@Valhala,
The CDCP has stated on several occasions that global warming is leading --- all over the world --- to advancing lines of overwintering mosquitos and increased warm-weather mosquito populations. They can easily track this through reports of mosquito-borne illnesses. We are seeing consistent increases in ALL mosquito-borne illnesses, not just WNV or Yellow Fever. The worst that is now hitting Texas and Florida is dengue fever --- it doesn't kill you, it just makes you wish you were dead. It causes such painful muscle spasms that prople break their own arm, and leg bones, hence its common name "breakbone fever."
Burying your head in the sand won't make it go away --- it will just get sand in your hair.
"More than half the cases -- 54 percent -- are the serious neuroinvasive variety, which can lead to encephalitis or meningitis. The vast majority of West Nile infections, some 80 percent, are so mild that people don't know they're infected. About 20 percent develop symptoms and about 1 percent may develop serious, neuro-invasive illnesses. "
These sentences seem to contradict one another.
the doctor is probably a Democrat since they lie and make up numbers to satisfy the army of ignorant followers. Then again he may not be a Doctor at all.
Let's see.. 54% + 80 % + 20% + 1% = 155%. Is the writer trying to convey there are 55% MORE cases than all the cases that there are? That seems like mankind is on the brink of being wiped out by this!
@ALA2,
They are saying that 54% of the REPORTED cases are the serious type, but that the reported cases make up only 20% of total cases since 80% of cases are asymptomatic and are NOT REPORTED. They determine total cases by doing routine assays where they test everyone in control populations for the disease.
The sentence was NOT contradictory. You just took it out of context and your poor reading comprehension led to a pool from which you are unable to drink.
Five other states -- Missississippi, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and California -- also continue to report high
"Missississippi" ??
So glad I live in southeast Texas where it's been over 100 degrees every day with 2-3 thunderstorms daily. Perfect conditions. Kind of creepy.
So much for the drought.
I have maintained for years that West Nile was actually a crude Biological Attack on the U.S. We have been flying planes all over the world for decades with no virus. West Nile showed up where? In New York. When? After the first attack on the World Trade Center. West Nile generally refers to Sudan. Who was living in Sudan in the early to mid 90s? Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders. At the top of the leader list then and now was an Egyptian Doctor named Al Zawahiri who is now the leader of Al Queda.
Bob, really. Weather is perfect for this right now. Do you have evidence to back up your theories?
Too many connected variables to be coincidence.
@Bob,
You mean WEST NILE VIRUS that was first found in Uganda in 1937? Three of Romney's grandmothers were in Uganda in 1937. Five of Romney's six grandmothers were Mexicans who came to this country illegally with Romney's father. It seems likely that Romney's grandparents brought the disease from Uganda to Mexico and then brought it to the US when they, along with Romney's father, crossed illegally into the US. How's that for a conspiracy theory?
The disease has always been around --- it was identified all over Africa and linked to mosquitos in the 1930's. The name was just a name --- just like St. Louis Encephalitis. That doesn't mean that the disease was only in St. Louis or that it occurs mostly in St. Louis.
People see conspiracies when they have no understanding of what is going on. They play connect-the-dots without all the dots.
If West Nile Virus is a biological weapon, it's a pretty freaking bad one. It doesn't spread from person to person, it is transmitted by a relatively vulnerable vector organism, it doesn't make most people it infects sick, and even then doesn't usually kill them.
And by the way, the spread of West Nile from the West Nile Region of Uganda to the US has been very well tracked.
We used to have Malaria here,at least in the southern states.By(or before)the 50s it was controlled or pretty much gone due to DDT.I dont know about west nile back then.The DDT didnt do anything to the malaria,just the carrier.In '62 Rachel Carson(I think) wrote Silent Spring about pesticide misuse and how it harmed some animals.Due to that book DDT was banned by '72,so here are the tropical diseases back.I wonder if anyone has data on how many people have been killed due to Mrs Carsons book.My views arent exactly PC but we may need to bring DDT back to get this under control again,humans are number one on my save list.
@hairyme,
Your "facts" are a little twisted. Malaria and yellow fever were eradicated in the south through drainage of swampy areas near population centers. This was based on experience from building the Panama Canal and the efforts of the US Army Medical Corps. DDT didn't come into use until 1939, after most mosquito control programs were in place. It played almost no part in eradicating disease in the US, but was used as an agricultural pesticide on crops.
As early as 1940, after only a year of commercial use, the government was having second thoughts about DDT. It was staying in the soil and accumulating for as long as 30 years and was killing a lot of unintended wildlife. It was considered a "canary in the coal mine" long before Carson's book. Is considered "highly toxic" by all US poison control centers and is banned for agricultural use worldwide. It is still used in a handful of Third World Countries for extremely serious outbreaks of anthropod-borne diseases, but even in that case, its use is very controversial.
The only legitimate use of DDT is in very tiny doses to treat barbituate poisoning that would otherwise be fatal. And in that use, the DDT will kill about 30% of the people who are treated with it.
I had encephalitis years ago. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Ugh. It was viral likely from a mosquito bite. Double ugh.
Remember to put those numbers into perspective. Roughly 40,000 US residents die annually from the common flu. 84 doesn't even compare. West nile is pretty overhyped by all accounts.
Homes repossesed pools not cared for banks irresponsible volia mosquitoes and west nile
That has to be the reason. Damn, why didn't everyone else figure that out?
Riley: It's one and the same (Congress and plague) as in: population control. HAARP: messing w/weather, earthquakes, etc. So unless you're part of the 1% AND White, get ready for a rough ride. You won't have access to the underground bunkers, clean water, food and 'health care'; and wd you really want to survive in that kind of new world order??
So Obama and Condi Rice won't have access? Grow up.
Horse..."normal people" like us don't have access to that stuff anyway, and what does "white" have to do w/anything?. And Watch, if you lived in Tx. (like a great many other people), 888 cases and 35 deaths doesn't seem overhyped, at all. A tiny midge, smaller that a pinhead, can bite me and I'll develop a welt that can be anywhere from dime to quarter-sized. Being outside in shorts and tee for more than 10 minutes, I'm liable to have at least a half dozen bites. It isn't comfortable. Thank God for Skeeter and After-Bite sticks!
Wow! You must really taste good! What in the heck is a midge?
"Why the outbreak is so bad in Texas is a matter of speculation"
Maybe that's where the majority of the testing is being done to ensure the effectivness of it before they turn it loose to create a pandemic?
How in the heck does a public health emergency bring out so much ignorant hate? Why don't you just burn all the Jews for poisoning the wells, like they did in the middle ages whenever there was any epidemic, and get it over with? Or blame it on witches, gypsies, the elderly, the funny-looking kid with the squinty eyes down the street, etc.? What is wrong with you people?
The only politics involved is working on global climate change (For example, New York City never really had a good freeze last year, and the mosquitoes are insane.) The rest of it is how to respond to the problem, such as spraying, increasing natural predators, management of stagnant water pools, public education, etc.
Texas's infrastructure was devastated by Bush and then Perry. I imagine the lack of adequate preventive action coupled with climate changes combined to make Texas an epicenter.
get use to this. as more and more 3rd world people invade the country along with them come their diseases. we will probably have an ebola outbreak before Christmas oops i mean winter solstice.
West Nile Virus cannot be spread from person to person. Viral loads in humans never reach a high enough concentration to allow enough viral particles to be carried by a mosquitoes to infect someone else. It is spread by mosquitoes biting birds (especially crows), which have much higher viral loads, then infecting people. So really, the problem is undocumented birds.
Does any one else think that, with the economy, the states and local subdivisions are using funds ear marked for spraying for their own pet projects?
Since I am in a very rural part of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, spraying was once considered a priority..Not now! But of course, there is still biweekly grass cutting well off the edges of the main drags, where only the out of town travelers will see.
I guess who ever made that decision would rather save face inside of people.
NOTE THIS: "every l6 seconds an immigrant enters the USA(illegal) and that's according to the illustrious card carrying LaRaza=666=The Race ills himself..Jorge Ramos UNIVISION...which shows us per fact why we are being invaded by parasites...unchecked...illegals. So what is being done about it: they are being R E W A R D E D the seats in our TAXPAID UNIVERISITES which our DEAD US MILITARY earned...all goes to the ILLEGALS, illegitimates from womb to tomb...while we basically cut our own throats.
As for the CDC keep bl