🚀 go-pugleaf

Your chances of being killed by lighting are probably better than being
killed by West Nile Virus. Don't buy into the media hype. Don't worry about
it.


Beverly <bevburc@bigtreepa.com> wrote in message
news:39D2BFC6.E76C7ED9@bigtreepa.com...
> NJ man first West Nile fatality
>
> Hackensack, NJ, Sept. 27 - A New Jersey resident infected
> with the West Nile virus is the first in the country to die
> from the disease this year, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman
> said Wednesday.
>
> AN 82-YEAR-OLD man from Little Falls in Passaic County died
> from the disease Sept. 14. He first became ill Sept. 3 and three days
> later was admitted to The Mountainside Hospital in Montclair,
> health officials said.
>
> State epidemiologist Eddy Bresnitz said that the man had other
> illnesses, but that West Nile was the principle cause of his death.
> Both Gov. Whitman and state Health and Senior Services
> Commissioner Christine Grant said that people should continue to
> take commonsense precautions, such as wearing long sleeves
> outdoors at night and using insect repellant.
>
> However, "People shouldn't panic," Whitman said.
> State officials also announced Wednesday that a third New
> Jersey victim has been treated for the disease after testing positive.
> That victim, a 72-year-old woman from Bayonne, is recovering at
> home, state officials said. She was admitted to Bayonne Hospital on
> Sept. 1 and discharged five days later.
>
> Both people were probably bitten sometime in August by
> mosquitoes carrying the disease.
>
> These two new cases are evidence that the virus is firmly
> established in New Jersey and in the Northeast, Health Department
> Commissioner Christine Grant said.
> The only human cases previously confirmed in New Jersey were
> a 43-year-old man from Jersey City and a 54-year-old man with
> homes in Cliffside Park and Brooklyn, NY.
>
> Both men were hospitalized for treatment and were reported to be
> recovering.
>
> The West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus common in
> Africa, West Asia and the Middle East. It was first seen in
> the eastern United States in the summer of 1999, when it caused
> 62 cases of encephalitis and killed seven people in the New York
> City area.
>
> Test results are pending for 18 people in New Jersey who have
> shown symptoms associated with the disease. State officials said
> none of those people appears to be critically ill.
> Generally, the disease causes flu-like symptoms or no problems at
> all, but it can be dangerous to young children, the elderly and
> anyone with a weakened immune system.
>
> The West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito
> that has drawn blood from an infected bird. It was first identified in
> the Western Hemisphere in September 1999.
>
> Seven deaths in New York were blamed on the virus last year.
> There have been 12 human cases in New York City this year,
> including eight in Staten Island, but no deaths.
>
> According to figures released last week, 838 crows found in 16
> counties and one cockatiel have tested positive for the virus in New
> Jersey this year out of 1,527 crows tested. At least three horses
> were destroyed after they were found with the disease.
>
> All 21 counties in the state have increased mosquito-control
> efforts, state officials said. Many of those programs include
> spraying pesticides to kill the mosquitoes at various stages of
> development.
>
> The head of the federal Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Jeffrey P.
> Koplan, visited Bergen County last week to review the state's
> efforts, calling them "a textbook example" of how to deal with a
> public health threat.
>
> CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said additional human cases this
> year are becoming less likely. "It's getting late in the season, so
> certainly as the weather becomes cool ... that should impact how
> active the mosquitoes are," he said.
> ()()()()()()()()())()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
> http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnbc/1077071.asp
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Took my kids fishing yesterday and we had to leave
> due to the mosquitos! Now I am scared? Should we all
> be worried? Everytime the CDC says "don't worry"
> it's time to run for cover! What do you think?
>
> -Beverly