HEALTH & SCIENCE

West Nile virus makes new inroads in the West

States that have previously seen lots of activity are experiencing a quiet summer, while others are not so lucky.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. July 26, 2004.

The West Nile virus is continuing its westward journey, with states that have experienced minimal or no activity until now reporting higher numbers than last year.

Meanwhile, case numbers appear to be settling in states that have already had significant outbreaks.

For example, Arizona, which reported a total of 13 cases last year and only three -- all of which were linked to travel to other states -- in 2002, already has at least 57 cases including one death, according to a paper published in the July 9 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Louisiana, however, which saw a large outbreak in 2002 including 329 confirmed cases, had only 124 last year and none yet reported this year.

"Most of us who've been watching this, if we had to make a prediction last year, we would have said Arizona and the Western part of the country would probably be the next hot area," said Dawn Wesson, PhD, associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. "We haven't seen two years in a row anywhere, where there were a lot of cases."

Experts theorize that the environment is adapting to the virus and vice-versa since it emerged in New York in 1999. But, they also warn that no area is immune from it.

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