Back to the West Nile Virus listserv archive.

Date: June 6, 2003
Posted by: Environmental Risk Analysis Program (envrisk@cornell.edu)

[1] Suspected case: Child from Ontario, Canada
[2] WestNileVirus-L current policy re: posting local updates of WNV detection


[1]
SUSPECTED CASE: CHILD FROM ONTARIO, CANADA
[This information about possible WNV infection of a 7-year-old 
Canadian child is edited from The London Free Press, News (byline: 
Joe Belanger), distributed in a June 5, 2003 ProMED-mail posting, Id: 
20030605.1382.]

A 7-year-old Walpole Island (Ontario, Canada) boy is being tested for 
WNV infection, the London region's first scare of the year from the 
illness. Tests are being conducted, but it could take as long as 2 
weeks to confirm whether the boy has the illness, said an official 
with the Lambton Health Unit.

"He's not seriously ill," said Joan Beaudet, the unit's supervisor of 
environmental, health, and prevention services, last night. "Our 
understanding is that the boy has already been discharged from 
hospital and is back at home." Beaudet is skeptical whether the boy's 
illness is West Nile fever. "This could be a totally false alarm. The
combination of it being early in the season and his age makes me 
think it's not WNV infection."

The prospect of West Nile infecting a child is sure to raise 
eyebrows, especially with many Southwestern Ontario cities only now 
embarking on costly control programs to guard against the 
mosquito-borne disease. The elderly are considered most vulnerable to 
WNV infection, and most people who come down with it are adults. It's 
not yet known how serious the boy's symptoms were.

Beaudet said early test results should be back within 4 days, but a 
test to confirm WNV infection will take as long as 2 weeks — much 
faster than last year, when test results took months. The health unit 
says the virus infected 6 people in the London area last year, along 
with 3 probable and 9 suspected cases.



[2] WESTNILEVIRUS-L POLICY RE: POSTING LOCAL UDATES OF WNV DETECTION

As noted in a May 23, 2003 posting (Subject: [WNV-L]  WNV 
Surveillance Summary), the Environmental Risk Analysis Program will 
no longer compile, and  WestNileVirus-L will no longer regularly 
post, local updates re: WNV detections in the US.  We will post 
periodic summaries and information—such as this newspaper story 
about possible WNV illness of a child—that may be of particular 
interest to WNV professionals and educators because the story may be 
controversial and/or anxiety-provoking.  In addition, because this 
possible case is in Canada, it will not be reflected in the datasets 
of US agencies.

WestNileVirus-L policy, excerpted and revised from May 23 posting:
"Information about the detection and spread of WNV in localities in 
North America will no longer be compiled proactively by the 
Environmental Risk Analysis Program (ERAP) for posting on this 
listserv or on our "What's Going on with the West Nile Virus" 
webpages. Those interested in such data are advised to check the
(i) USGS surveillance maps http://westnilemaps.usgs.gov/,
(ii) USDA APHIS database of equine cases http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/wnv/wnv.htm,
(iii) CDC's "Current Case Count" http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/wncount.htm
(iv) searchable archives of the ProMED-Mail listserv http://www.promedmail.org

"ProMED posts news releases and other information as it is received 
from localities, whereas the government websites typically have a 
significant lag time (although in 2002 CDC updated its human case 
counts on a daily basis).

"Historical summary and links to sources of local WNV information 
(i.e., for states, provinces, and other nations) can be accessed from 
ERAP's WNV UPDATES http://environmentalrisk.cornell.edu/WNV/Update/Update(A-E).cfm or 
WEBLINKS http://environmentalrisk.cornell.edu/WNV/WNVWeblinks.cfm." 
—listserv moderator

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