More Than 400 West Nile Virus Cases in U.S. in 2007
Cases were reported by 27 states including 15 fatalities
TUESDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- There were 444 cases of West Nile virus infections reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between March 25 and Aug. 5, 2007, of which 15 cases were fatal, according to a report in the Aug. 17 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
California recorded 86 cases and five deaths, the highest number in the country. Colorado, South Dakota and North Dakota reported 72, 62 and 52 cases, respectively. Males accounted for 241 cases (54 percent of the total) and the age of patients ranged from 2 to 96 years with a median age of 48 years.
Surveillance also identified 49 presumptive West Nile viremic blood donors this year, of which 19 were from California, seven from Texas, and five each from Colorado and North Dakota.
Birds infected with West Nile virus were reported in 24 states and infections in horses were reported in 17 states, while 1,845 pools of water in 31 states contained West Nile-tested positive mosquitoes.