Back to the West Nile Virus listserv archive.

Date: June 14, 2003
Posted by: Environmental Risk Analysis Program (envrisk@cornell.edu)
ProMED-Mail

Parts of this memo are forwarded from ProMED-Mail posting #20030613.1455.


[1] CDC  Update
[2] TexasStatement, as of 9 Jun 2003
[3] Equine (Oklahoma)
[4] Birds & mosquitoes (Louisiana)
[5] Bird (Illinois)
[6] Cumulative statistics ex USGS Maps (as of 11 Jun 2003)


[1] CDC UPDATE

[WestNileVirus-L moderator's note: CDC  June 11 2003 summary map 
posted at 
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&control03Maps.htm does 
not show 2003 cases in Texas and Oklahoma.  The following CDC summary 
is excerpted from a June 9 Reuters Health story posted on ProMED. 
The transcript is not posted to the CDC website (most recent WNV 
press briefing posted in from Oct 2002]

CDC reported on Mon 9 Jun 2003 that WNV has been detected in birds, 
horses and/or mosquitoes in at least 24 states so far this year. No 
human cases have been reported this year.

Dr. Stephen Ostroff, deputy director of the CDC's national center for 
infectious diseases, said it was unclear whether the mosquitoes 
responsible for spreading the virus would pose as much of a health 
risk to the public as they did in 2002. He did advise people to take 
preventative and protective measures.

The 2002 outbreak was the largest since the virus first appeared in 
the Western Hemisphere 4 years ago, with 4156 cases of WNV infection 
(284 deaths), in the US. During the 2002 outbreak, CDC officials 
confirmed the first known cases in which WNV was transmitted through 
organ transplants and blood transfusions. The possibility the virus 
could be spread through breast milk or sexual contact also has been 
studied. Although most people who contract West Nile have no symptoms 
and those who do normally suffer little more than flu-like illness, 
it is believed they still can carry small amounts of the virus in 
their blood for several days.

It is estimated that up to 200 000 Americans may have been exposed to 
West Nile since 1999... An estimated 4.5 million Americans receive 
blood or blood products annually. The prospect that the virus could 
spread through the nation's blood supply prompted officials with the 
Food and Drug Administration, blood banks and laboratories to work 
this past winter on a way to screen blood for the virus.

[Source: Reuters Health Information (via Medlineplus), Jun 9
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_12974.html Paul Simao]

[2] TEXAS

Date: June 9, 2003
From: Lee A. Chastant, Director
Jefferson County Mosquito Control District
8905 First Street, Beaumont, TX 77705
phone 409-722-5350, fax 409-727-4176

We now have 6 positive dead birds, 3 suspect WNV mosquito pools and 3 
suspect SLE mosquito pools. These have been run through the Elisa 
test and are presently in mice. It looks like an interesting year.


[3] OKLAHOMA

A female foal in eastern Oklahoma is the first confirmed case of WNV 
infection in 2003, officials said on Jun 9.  State Veterinarian Burke 
Healey and Dr. Kristy Bradley, public health veterinarian for the 
state Health Dept, believe that the diagnosis of a female foal in 
Sallisaw so early in the season is an ominous sign. "Our concern is 
that this early case could translate  into a more severe epidemic of 
the disease during this year's mosquito season."

In 2002, Oklahoma's first WNV case in a bird was reported 0n 18 Jul 
2002. The first equine case was reported on 9 Aug and the first human 
case on 26 Aug 2002. In all, 441 dead birds submitted for testing to 
the Oklahoma
Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Stillwater were West Nile 
virus-positive. More than 2450 dead birds were tested. West Nile 
virus killed 135 Oklahoma horses last year. Blood samples from 964 
horses and one zebra were tested. Of the 21 cases  confirmed in 
Oklahoma residents last year, 2 died.

Source: Excerpted from a KOKO, news report, Wed 11 Jun 2003
http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/2260930/detail.html posted on ProMED


[4] LOUISIANA
Date: Wed 11 Jun 2003
From: Dawn Wesson <wesson@tulane.edu>
Source:  Office of Public Health, Infectious Disease Epidemiology,
West Nile Virus surveillance Summary, Wed 11 Jun 2003 [edited]
See details at http://arbonet.caeph.tulane.edu/2003/summary.htm

[5] ILLINOIS
Date: Wed 11 Jun 2003
From: Thomas Gary <thomasgary@ameritech.net>
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health, press release, Tue 10
Jun 2003 [edited]
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/press03/wnv_6_10_03.htm


[6]
Date: Fri 13 Jun 2003
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: US Geological Survey, West Nile Virus National and State
Maps 2003, Wed 11 Jun 2003 [edited]
http://westnilemaps.usgs.gov/


USGS Surveillance Update, as of Wed 11 Jun 2003
-----------------------------------------------
The national and state maps compiled by the USGS reflect
information for the 2003 West Nile virus reporting season that has
been submitted and verified to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) up to Wed 11 Jun 2003.

The surveillance maps posted on http://westnilemaps.usgs.gov are
created from data contained in CDC's ArboNET surveillance
database. The maps portray summaries of West Nile virus-positive
surveillance data reported to the CDC by cooperating health
departments and verified to ArboNET.  In addition, maps for 2
surveillance categories (avians and mosquitoes) will portray
counties that have done "testing" of samples for WNV.

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