Doctor: West Nile cases no cause to panic
Posted on 08/06/2002 2:29:40 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Doctor: West Nile cases no cause to panic
Man, 71, in hospital; woman has recovered from flulike symptoms
08/06/2002
A 33-year-old Balch Springs woman and a 71-year-old North Dallas man appear to be the first North Texas residents infected with the West Nile virus, Dallas County health officials said Monday.
The woman has recovered from flulike symptoms, and the man remained in stable condition at an undisclosed Dallas hospital, said Dr. Assefa Tulu, county epidemiologist.
The virus, which has been moving across the United States since 1999, is harbored in birds but is spread by mosquitoes to people and horses. Most people who are infected have no noticeable symptoms, although a few can become severely ill.
So far this summer, 58 cases of West Nile have been diagnosed in residents of Louisiana, 22 in Mississippi, 10 in Texas and one in Arkansas. Four deaths in Louisiana have been attributed to the virus, bringing to 22 the U.S. death total since the outbreak began.
| Also Online | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Still, county officials said they were considering aerial mosquito spraying but have decided to hold off for now. The county is working closely with municipalities to coordinate mosquito-spraying efforts on the ground, officials said. And the areas where two human cases were reported have had additional spraying since last week.
"Right now, we feel we have enough trucks throughout the county ... and we're working together to hit the hot spots," said Chester Vaughn, assistant director of environmental health and inspections for the county.
In Harris County, which has been hardest hit by West Nile, aerial spraying has been limited to remote areas that cannot be reached by truck sprayers. As of Monday, that county had tallied 116 infected birds, 11 horses and five people. The other human cases in Texas are in the Beaumont area.
In Dallas County, 13 birds have tested positive for the virus; four in Collin County and one in Tarrant County have also been found. Infected birds are considered the first sign that West Nile has reached a community.
Dallas County officials said it would take 10 to 15 days to confirm the two human cases, although laboratory tests have shown that both suffered from a mosquito-borne disease, either West Nile or St. Louis encephalitis. Confirmation must come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The county didn't want to wait to inform residents that the virus was spreading to people, Dr. Tulu said. "People need to be cautious about avoiding mosquito bites, especially from dusk to dawn."
The Balch Springs woman who was treated for West Nile had sought treatment July 10 at a local clinic. Her symptoms included fever, headache, loss of appetite, muscle aches and a rash. Her doctor asked the state to perform a West Nile test, which indicated a possible infection.
The North Dallas man became ill July 20 and was hospitalized for muscle weakness, lethargy and apathy, said Dr. Tulu, who declined to give further information that might identify either person.
Dr. Tulu said there probably were more undetected cases of West Nile in the Dallas area because most people suffer such mild symptoms that they would not bother to seek treatment.
"For every case that you see, there may be several other mild type cases," he said.
The incubation period ranges from three to 14 days, according to a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. A study of New York City residents who were infected in 1999 found that about 20 percent of them developed West Nile fever, which included a sudden onset of malaise, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, eye pain, headache and rash.
In the New York cases, about one in 150 infections resulted in meningitis or encephalitis, swelling of the spinal cord or brain. However, the incidence of neurologic diseases was greatest among people 50 years or older.
Scott Sawlis, Dallas County entomologist, urged residents to check window screens and doors to make sure mosquitoes cannot get inside. He recommended wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants while outdoors and using DEET-based insect repellent.
"The most important thing a citizen can do is abate the mosquito problem in their homes by removing water from artificial containers," he said. Such containers can become breeding sites for mosquitoes that carry West Nile.
E-mail sjacobson@dallasnews.com
I would ask the Doctor about West Nile and see what he says. He's gonna
charge you the same either way. You might as well find out while you're there.
Good luck, Tex.
Thank you.
Yeah, it looks like the WNV is a pretty mild threat. Most folks only get immune after infection and don't get any symptoms. Some get symptoms and get sick. Pretty low risk for serious threat. After learning this, I'm not too worried even. But they ought to re-think the DDT thing. Although bringing that issue up would bring the EnviroNazi cockroaches out of the woodwork, I'm sure.
Means you had Chicken Pox as a child. CP is a class of virus that once you're over it and "well", it actually has gone dormant. CP goes dormant within the nerve cells in the body. Later in life, an incident in your life can "shock" it out of dormancy (Election 2000 was a shocker, all right! lol). It's reactivated within your nerve cells, hence the pain.
That's a layman's understanding. I had Chronic Fatigue for several years back in the late 80's and again in the 90s. With the second occurrance, I got myself some study time and learned a bit about the immune system, etc. When I did my studying, they theorized that Chronic Fatigue could be Epstein Barr Virus becoming reactivated.
Why bring back DDT for a few isolated cases of WNV a year? There may be some good reasons for bringing back the insecticide, but to sugest that WNV is one of these reasons is to be ignorant of the virus or deliberately obtuse and juvenile.
While I agree that WNV is apparently not a serious health risk, there are a number of mosquito-borne illness that are, such as malaria and a few others. (And, fyi, see my post #8).
Also, see this Google Search for "Mosquito Borne Diseases."
It seems I have seen posts here on FR that claimed or implied that there could be millions of lives saved using it to combat some of these diseases. And it's been shown that DDT banning was based on Junk Science advocated by EnviroNazis 30 years ago. If you want links to those, they should be in that link in my post.
< snip >
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
