 An
elderly New Jersey man has become the first victim of West Nile
virus in the United States this year.
New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman announced on Wednesday that
the 82-year-old man had died on September 14. Although the victim
was suffering from other medical problems, health authorities
identified the virus as the principal cause of death.
West Nile virus is transmitted to humans from birds that have
been bitten by infected mosquitoes. Flu-like symptoms of the illness
include headaches, fever, vomiting, joint aches and encephalitis-type
inflammations of the brain and its lining. Allen Heimann, a medical
officer for Canada's Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, urged residents
to wear long-sleeved clothing, install and repair window screens
and use insect repellent.
The disease
surfaced for the first time in the Western Hemisphere last year,
killing seven people and infecting 55 others in the New York metropolitan
area. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), 12 people in New York and four others in New Jersey have
been infected with the virus this year. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner
speculated that the number of infections would drop as cooler
temperatures reduced mosquito populations.
The virus
has been detected in dead birds in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Officials in Canada reported last
week that they also had found a dead crow, which is suspected
of carrying the disease, on the Canadian side of the Detroit River.
Israeli health
authorities announced last week that the outbreak of West Nile
virus in that country had reached epidemic proportions. At least
20 people have died and another 200 have been infected within
the past two months. Spraying programs have been initiated north
of Tel Aviv, where the humid coastal climate fosters the proliferation
of mosquitoes.
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