Foster: West Nile an emergency 

WILL SENTELL / The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) 2aug02

Gov. Mike Foster said Thursday he will declare a state of emergency today in Louisiana in hopes of winning federal funds to combat the West Nile virus. The virus, which is carried by mosquitoes, has infected 32 people in south Louisiana and contributed to the death of an 83-year-old Baton Rouge woman on Monday. It can cause encephalitis, which is a swelling of the brain, and other illnesses.

"It is an emergency situation," Foster told listeners on his "Live Mike" radio program. The governor's emergency declaration is needed before the state can seek federal assistance.

"In a lot of cases it helps you get federal financial help," the governor said. "I don't think that will be automatic but we are certainly going to try."

The state hopes to get $3 million to $5 million in federal funds. Officials said the money is needed to help local governments already pinched by the costs of fighting the virus.

Any federal aid will be used to help parishes with mosquito-abatement programs, ground and aerial spraying, chemicals, bird testing and public service announcements. Mosquitoes that bite infected birds and have the virus replicate can then transmit it to a human.

While final figures are not available, East Baton Rouge Parish spent $201,630 in the past six months to spray for mosquitoes from fog trucks and airplanes, said Matt Yates, director of the parish's mosquito-abatement and rodent-control office. The parish spent $23,800 for spraying efforts in 1998, Yates said. Overtime expenses will also drive up this year's tab.

State and federal health officials have called a press conference today and will likely announce more confirmed cases of the virus.

South Louisiana is experiencing the second-largest outbreak of West Nile virus since the disease arrived in the United States three years ago. Officials said New York and New Jersey won $5 million in federal funds to combat the virus two years ago.

Foster said the virus "has the ability to do some kind of harm" and noted that the number of cases has doubled in recent days.

"This is the kind of thing that there ought to be some relief from the federal government," Foster told radio listeners.

The 83-year-old Baton Rouge woman, whose name has not been released, was the state's first West Nile virus-related fatality. Officials said she was already grappling with cancer and that the virus was the final blow. The woman was one of five confirmed cases of West Nile virus in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Dr. Raoult Ratard, the state epidemiologist, said that of 200 people bitten and infected by a mosquito, 179 will not even know they have the disease. Twenty more will develop West Nile fever, which includes flulike symptoms. Only one in 200 will develop either meningitis or encephalitis.

U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, said he wants congressional hearings on the threat of mosquito-borne diseases and faster action on providing matching federal grants to mosquito-control districts.

"Local governments will run out of resources to fight this menace and I'm going to try everything in my power to help them have the resources they need," Baker said.

Editor's note: Advocate staff writer Mike Dunne contributed to this report.

source: http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/080202/hea_nile001.shtml

10,000 may be infected
West Nile virus infects many, but few fall ill

MIKE DUNNE / The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) 3aug02

While there are 58 known cases of mosquito-borne West Nile virus in Louisiana, one state health official estimated 10,000 to 12,000 other people have been infected, felt no symptoms and are now immune to the disease.

West Nile virus has claimed four lives, two in East Baton Rouge Parish. Twelve of the 58 cases are from East Baton Rouge Parish. On Tuesday, Dr. Louis Cataldie, the parish's coroner, confirmed the disease caused the death of an 83-year-old woman, and now state officials have added a 75-year-old man to the list.

The outbreak in Louisiana will soon be the nation's largest since the disease came to the United States in 1999. The virus has also begun to spread across the state from the initial outbreak around Lake Pontchartrain with human cases confirmed in Calcasieu, Allen and Ouachita parishes.

Ouachita was the site of an outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis last year that killed four and hospitalized 62 people.

State Epidemiologist Raoult Ratard said the state is awaiting lab results on 34 more suspected cases. Some will prove to be other diseases, he said. "There is no sign it is going to go down. This is the beginning," Ratard.

The outbreak could last into October and November, Ratard and other health officials said.

David Hood, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals, said the "magnitude was greater than we expected."

Dr. Roy Campbell, of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said "it's not time for panic. It's a time to take action."

If not for the mosquito-control efforts in some parishes, Campbell said the state would see more cases.

The Associated Press reported at least 89 people in three states infected with West Nile, including 44 new cases confirmed Friday.

Mississippi reported a total of 22 cases as of Friday and the rest are from Texas.

During a Slidell news conference Friday releasing the latest figures, DHH Regional Medical Director Dr. Erin Brewer said "there are probably 10,000 to 12,000 people who have been infected" but experience no symptoms.

Ratard added "those that are not sick are lucky." He said they should have future immunity from antibodies created as the immune system fought off the infection.

Studies in other outbreaks around the world show that of 200 people, 179 will be infected and feel no symptoms. Another 20 will experience flulike symptoms like fever and headache, called West Nile fever. Only about one victim in 200 infected will develop encephalitis or meningitis, a swelling of the brain or brain lining.

People older than age 50 and those already fighting other diseases are most at risk, officials said. Of the four dead, one was a 53-year-old man from Folsom, and the other three were ages 83, 75 and 72.

Brewer said the best way not to get sick is "avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes." That means wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors and wearing insect repellent, she said.

Gov. Mike Foster and Baton Rouge Mayor Bobby Simpson have declared states of emergency that they hope will help get additional funding to help combat the outbreak.

State Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Slidell, said he's been working with other state and parish officials to get additional financial resources for mosquito control agencies and other West Nile-related activities.

Schedler, who chairs the Senate's Health and Welfare Committee, said last year Monroe-area local governments spent $3 million fighting the St. Louis encephalitis outbreak and the Legislature's Interim Emergency Board dipped into a special fund to reimburse those agencies $781,000 of their expenses.

Schedler said he thinks there is only $6 million to $7 million in the fund and, based on the projected magnitude of the outbreak, "we could exhaust that pretty easily, although that is not going to happen."

St. Tammany Mosquito Control Director Charles Palmisano said he has spent $300,000 to $400,000 more than expected and will soon exhaust his annual $2.5 million budget. His district has set aside money for emergencies and can dip into it, he said.

The East Baton Rouge Mosquito Control and Rodent Abatement District has spent nearly 10 times the money on fogging and spraying this year than was spent in all of 1998, Director Matt Yates said.

CDC's Campbell said he and a team of more than a dozen epidemiologists are looking into the outbreak. "It was detected here last year, but there is no scientific reason it has broken out here," he said.

"We are wondering why we have not seen more in Florida," Yates said.

Based on other outbreaks, West Nile cases might not stop growing until cool weather sets in October or November, reducing mosquito activity, Campbell said.

Officials say the disease will remain stored in birds over the winter for future outbreaks.

If you or someone in your family have been affected by a West Nile virus infection, we would like to tell your story to our readers. Please call Mike Dunne at 225-388-0301 or e-mail him at mdunne@theadvocate.com

Cases of virus rise in state; four dead

ALISA STINGLEY / Shreveport Times (LA) 3aug02

As the confirmed human cases of West Nile virus in Louisiana jumped to 58 Friday - and with four deaths - laboratory results on a Caddo Parish chicken suspected of having the virus have been delayed.

The results of the test on the chicken, part of a sentinel flock monitored by Caddo Mosquito Control, had been expected Friday.

However, the blood sample never got to the LSU veterinary school lab in Baton Rouge because it was not picked up here by a Department of Health and Hospitals driver, said Dan Saxon, biologist in charge of mosquito control for Caddo.

However, Saxon said he planned to take the sample to Baton Rouge today, though results probably won't be back until Thursday. No cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been confirmed in either birds or humans in Northwest Louisiana, though the first case in a human in Ouachita Parish was reported Friday. That's the first outside South Louisiana.

A positive test result in a bird is significant since the virus infects birds then humans. Dead blue jays, crows and hawks, in particular, may be signs that West Nile virus is present.

As Caddo awaits the results, Saxon said additional spraying in the area where the chicken is kept was done Friday. The area, which is near the DeSoto Parish line, is sparsely populated.

Also, the parish plans to add a part-time employee next week to boost the number of spray trucks from five to six, meaning an additional 35 miles can be covered each evening. The trucks routinely spray Monday through Thursday.

West Nile virus, which can lead to encephalitis, or brain swelling, now has spread to nearly every part of the state. And experts Friday were warning that this is just the beginning.

Dr. Roy Campbell, medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said at a news conference in Slidell: "It will eventually get to all the Western states over time, we believe."

Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist, said health officials are checking out other possible cases. "We have a whole bunch of suspects, and it is not going to go down."

Earlier this week, health officials confirmed that an 83-year-old Baton Rouge woman died of West Nile virus. The latest victims include a 53-year-old man from Folsom, a 75-year-old man from Baton Rouge and a 72-year-old man from the Calcasieu Parish town of Iowa. These are the first West Nile deaths this year in the nation.

Most of the 58 cases confirmed have occurred in people 45 and older, according to DHH statistics. Older people are considered at higher risk for West Nile virus.

Gov. Mike Foster has declared a statewide emergency, a move he said could help bring in federal money to fight the nation's second-worst epidemic of West Nile virus.

Foster said he hopes the declaration will pave the way for federal cash to help parishes which are using up their money for mosquito spraying far faster than usual.

New York, where the first and worst epidemic occurred in 1999, followed by a smaller outbreak in 2000, got $5 million in emergency money in late 2000. New Jersey, which also had an outbreak in 2000, got $5 million that year.

Mosquitoes spread the virus from infected birds to humans, who then can develop deadly encephalitis. Most people develop only flulike symptoms, and some don't get sick at all. Humans cannot pass the virus.

The virus has been found in 24 Louisiana parishes, including 13 in which human cases have been confirmed. Texas has reported eight probable human cases; Mississippi, 23.

Not all parishes have mosquito control programs. For example, Caddo has a mosquito control district with spraying trucks, a larvicide program, four sentinel flocks and mosquito traps that are checked regularly. Bossier City and Bossier Parish have spraying programs but no comprehensive abatement efforts.

The state Office of Public Health also relies on citizens to help monitor West Nile virus. People who find dead, undecomposed birds such as blue jays, crows or hawks should contact their parish health unit or take bagged birds to the unit.

Dr. Martha Whytle, Region 7 OPH medical director, said Friday that the office is seeing increasing numbers of calls.

"The sanitarians are really running," she said, referring to health workers going out to collect dead birds after being called by citizens. "They have been very busy. (The public) is definitely reporting."

So far, none of the wild birds here has tested positive for West Nile virus, Whyte said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Confirmed cases

Following are areas where cases of West Nile virus in humans have been confirmed.

East Baton Rouge: 12 (two deaths).
St. Tammany: 18 (one death).
Calcasieu: 2 (one death).
Livingston: 7.
Tangipahoa: 7.
Ascension: 2.
Jefferson: 2.
Allen: 1.
East Feliciana: 1.
Orleans: 1.
Ouachita: 1.
West Baton Rouge: 1.
St. Landry: 1.
Mississippi: 1 (being treated in Louisiana).
Undetermined: 2.

Source: La. Department of Health and Hospitals

Whom to call

Call (318) 226-6627 in Caddo Parish, (318) 741-8405 in Bossier City and (318) 965-3752 elsewhere in Bossier Parish to report problems with mosquitoes.

Handling dead birds

Dead blue jays, crows or hawks could be a sign of West Nile virus. Health officials ask that citizens double-bag the undecomposed birds by turning a plastic bag inside out and picking up the bird with the hands protected by the bag. Then turn the bag right side out, seal it and place it inside another plastic bag. Either take it to your parish health unit or call the unit. Depending on the volume of calls, health units may be unable to pick up all dead birds; some birds may not be viable for testing.