For Immediate Release: September 3, 2003 (03-148)

Contacts:
Donn Moyer, Communications Office 360-236-4076
Tim Church, Communications Office 360-236-4077

Additional tests show Yakima area man does not have West Nile virus illness  Still no confirmed human cases acquired in Washington

Olympia ¾ Follow-up testing by the Department of Health laboratory and negative test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a Yakima County man in his 30s does not have West Nile virus (WNV) infection. The case had been listed as "probable" pending confirmation and has now been de-listed. The Yakima man had been hospitalized when he first became ill in early August and is recovering.

"It’s very important to follow through with confirmatory testing so we can track new diseases like West Nile virus," said Dr. Mira Leslie, Washington State Public Health Veterinarian. "West Nile virus is moving across the country and may already be here, so it’s important that people take mosquito bite-prevention seriously, and reduce the places where mosquitoes can live around their homes."

Most people who get WNV infection don’t get sick, but it can be very serious. WNV infection causes mild symptoms in about 20 percent of those infected, but most people have no symptoms at all. Less than one percent of those infected will get seriously ill with encephalitis (brain inflammation) or meningitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and lining of the brain). People over 50 are the most likely to have a serious infection. WNV is not spread person-to-person.

The state Department of Health and local health departments are working together on monitoring and testing dead birds to detect West Nile virus and track the disease. The disease has been spreading rapidly in other states this year, though it still has not been confirmed in humans, horses or dead birds tested so far in Washington in 2003. The disease appeared in our state last year in two dead birds and two horses. State and local health agencies also provide education on mosquito bite prevention and reducing mosquito-breeding sites around homes.

Mosquitoes carrying WNV can transmit the disease to people, horses and birds. The statewide WNV surveillance project monitors all three groups. The Department of Health toll-free phone line, 1-866-78VIRUS, and the agency West Nile virus Web site (http://www.doh.wa.gov/WNV/), provide information on mosquito bite prevention and mosquito breeding habitat reduction.

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