This year’s first confirmed case of West Nile virus disease in a human in the US has been confirmed in Orangeburg County, S.C.
The ill woman, who suffered partial paralysis, is recovering in the hospital, said Dr. Lena Bretous, epidemiologist for vector-borne diseases with the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging infectious disease that made its first appearance in the United States in 1999. The microbe that causes the infection belongs to a group of disease-causing viruses that are usually spread by ticks or mosquitoes or birds.
People who contract WNV usually experience only mild symptoms—fever, headache, body aches, skin rash, and swollen lymph glands. If WNV enters the brain, however, it can cause life- threatening encephalitis or meningitis.
Most fatal cases of the disease occur in elderly people and those with impaired immune systems.
WNV was first isolated in Uganda in 1937. Today it is most commonly found in Africa, West Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
In 1999, it was found in the Western Hemisphere for the first time in the New York City area. In early spring 2000, it appeared again in birds and mosquitoes and then spread to other parts of the eastern US. By 2004, the virus had been found in birds and mosquitoes in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.
In 2005, WNV caused 2,949 cases of disease in the United States, including 116 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Human cases have now been reported throughout the continental US and in Canada and Mexico.
Although licensed WNV vaccines exist for horses, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for humans. Faced with a potentially deadly illness spreading quickly across the United States, scientists and public health officials have accelerated research on developing tools to prevent and treat WNV disease.
Report by David Wilkening
