Two more cases bring total West Nile infections to 16
Posted: Thursday, August 09, 2007
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- With two more cases reported this week, Nebraska now has 16 cases of West Nile virus.
The state Department of Health and Human Services said one case was a woman age 26-50 from Adams County; the other was a woman older than 65 in Harlan County.
The other counties with cases this year: Adams, Boone, Buffalo, Garden, Hall, Knox, Lincoln, Platte, Scotts Bluff, Seward and Thayer.
West Nile is transmitted through mosquito bites from insects that picked up the virus by feeding on infected birds.
Last year, 264 human cases of the disease were reported, compared with 188 in 2005, 57 in 2004, 2,366 in 2003 and 174 in 2002. There were no cases before 2002, the year the disease found its way to Nebraska from the East Coast. At least two deaths were reported last year.
Fewer than one out of 150 people who get bitten by an infected mosquito and become infected will get seriously ill. West Nile fever includes flulike symptoms such as fever and muscle weakness. Symptoms of West Nile encephalitis include inflammation of the brain, disorientation, convulsions and paralysis.
People over 50 and those with weak immune systems are especially vulnerable to the disease.
On the Net:
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services: www.hhss.ne.gov
The state Department of Health and Human Services said one case was a woman age 26-50 from Adams County; the other was a woman older than 65 in Harlan County.
The other counties with cases this year: Adams, Boone, Buffalo, Garden, Hall, Knox, Lincoln, Platte, Scotts Bluff, Seward and Thayer.
West Nile is transmitted through mosquito bites from insects that picked up the virus by feeding on infected birds.
Last year, 264 human cases of the disease were reported, compared with 188 in 2005, 57 in 2004, 2,366 in 2003 and 174 in 2002. There were no cases before 2002, the year the disease found its way to Nebraska from the East Coast. At least two deaths were reported last year.
Fewer than one out of 150 people who get bitten by an infected mosquito and become infected will get seriously ill. West Nile fever includes flulike symptoms such as fever and muscle weakness. Symptoms of West Nile encephalitis include inflammation of the brain, disorientation, convulsions and paralysis.
People over 50 and those with weak immune systems are especially vulnerable to the disease.
On the Net:
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services: www.hhss.ne.gov
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