| NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - A 37-year-old man is the latest,
and youngest, person to be infected in the New York area
this year with the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus that causes
brain-swelling encephalitis, officials said Wednesday.
The
announcement by health officials brought to 14 the number
of people who have tested positive for the virus in New
York City this year. Starting in the spring, health officials
began an aggressive campaign to kill mosquitoes and during
the summer, authorities sprayed the city with insecticides.
New
York City Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said at a news
conference that the man lived in Staten Island and had
been recovering at home since being released from the
hospital on Sunday after four days of treatment.
``He
is the youngest this year but last year we had a couple
of cases under 16 years old so it is not extraordinary,''
Cohen said. He said the man was admitted Sept. 27 with
encephalitis after experiencing headaches, muscle weakness
and joint pain for several weeks.
An
82-year-old man in New Jersey died Sept. 14 after being
infected with the virus, the only West Nile-related fatality
in the United States this year. The virus has killed 13
people in Israel this year.
Last
year, the virus appeared in the Western Hemisphere for
the first time, killing seven people and sickening dozens
of others in the New York metropolitan region. Health
authorities still do not know how the virus was transported
to the United States.
New
York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday that during
the winter, city health officials would meet with Israeli
health officials to learn more about efforts to combat
the virus, named after the region in Uganda where it was
first discovered in 1937.
Blood-sucking
mosquitoes spread the virus from infected birds to people.
The elderly and children are the most vulnerable and the
virus can cause brain diseases such as encephalitis and
meningitis and at its worst, lead to paralysis and death.
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