🚀 go-pugleaf

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.
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http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnbc/1077071.asp

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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