posted 08-06-2002 12:40 AM               

Legionnaires' Infects Dozens in U.K.

By EMMA ROSS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON- Ninety-four people were hospitalized Monday after the worst Legionnaires' disease outbreak in nearly a decade - an outbreak that already has killed one elderly man in northwest Britain.

Sixty-four of those patients were confirmed to have the illness while the remaining 30 were suspected of having it, health officials said. Eighteen people were in intensive care units at five hospitals.

At the start of the outbreak, officials said they expected nearly 100 more cases to emerge in the next week or so. The 89-year-old man who died Friday was identified Monday as Richard Macaulay.

Public health officials investigating the outbreak said they believed its source was the air conditioning system at a community center in the town of Barrow-in-Furness.

Legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria in water droplets. The legionella bacteria are found in water, and the source of infection

in most major outbreaks has been water in the heating or air conditioning systems of public buildings.

Some people can be infected with the bug and have mild symptoms or no illness at all, but between 5 percent and 30 percent of the infected die.

Tests conducted on the water plant at the community center revealed legionella bacteria. The local council that runs the community center has turned over all documents to police.

A council officer responsible for maintenance of the center's air conditioning system was suspended Sunday pending the results of a police and Health and Safety Executive investigation.

Also Monday, authorities were investigating contamination of the water in Glasgow, Scotland, after high levels of the intestinal parasite cryptosporidium were detected.

A Scottish Water spokesman said recent heavy rains and flooding probably washed animal feces from nearby fields into the water supply. Health officials advised residents over the weekend to boil tap water, but a Scottish politician criticized the water company Monday for not alerting Glasgow's 140,000 residents sooner.

Tests results came back Friday and doctors in Glasgow were informed to look out for possible increases in the numbers of patients with such problems as stomach cramps, mild flu and diarrhea.

However, the problem was not made public until Saturday, when water bosses realized that parasite levels had increased further.

posted 08-06-2002 08:28 PM               

By Janet McConnaughey
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 6, 2002; 4:54 PM

NEW ORLEANS –– The West Nile virus has killed a fifth Louisiana resident and infected 14 more people in what health officials said Tuesday is the nation's biggest outbreak since the disease was first detected in the United States in 1999.

Seventy-one Louisiana residents have been confirmed to have the mosquito-borne disease. Before now, the largest outbreak had been the first, when 62 people became ill and five of them died in New York three years ago.

The latest to die was a 76-year-old woman from St. Tammany Parish, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain across from New Orleans.

Most people bitten by an infected mosquito will not become noticeably ill, but some develop flu-like symptoms, and the weak and the elderly can get encephalitis, a potentially fatal brain infection. State and local officials have boosted mosquito-spraying efforts and urged people to protect themselves against the insects.

Encephalitis is usually seen in August and September, but Louisiana's first patients became ill in June.

The West Nile virus is showing up earlier in the summer as it moves to warmer climates, said Dr. Jim Hughes, director of the infectious diseases center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mississippi has 22 confirmed human cases of West Nile virus. Texas has 10 suspected cases and Arkansas one. Since 1999, the virus has been found in birds and people in 34 states and Washington, and health officials expect it will continue spreading west. On Tuesday, the first human case in Illinois was confirmed.

Gov. Mike Foster declared a state of emergency in Louisiana last week as part of an effort to obtain federal funds to fight the virus.

Two Louisiana congressmen said they received a commitment Tuesday from President Bush to help secure federal money. Democrat William Jefferson and Republican Billy Tauzin said the state needs $3 million to $5 million for more mosquito spraying.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51246-2002Aug6.html

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Ill. sees first human case of W. Nile

August 6, 2002

BY RYAN KEITH ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPRINGFIELD -- State health officials reported the first known human case of West Nile virus in Illinois on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old woman, a student from Maryland, reported only minor symptoms-- fever, achy muscles and a slight rash-- and has recovered, said Dr. John Lumpkin, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The student spent eight weeks in Illinois, living in Cook County and working in DuPage County.

The student went home after becoming ill July 26, and her bout of West Nile virus was confirmed Tuesday by Maryland health officials. Because she was living in Illinois throughout the disease's incubation period, officials are certain she contracted it in Illinois.

Five people in Louisiana have died this summer of West Nile, a virus that can cause flu-like symptoms and sometimes potentially fatal swelling of the brain. Most of the victims have been older people or those with weak immune systems.

The disease has been found in more than 100 people this year, the federal Centers for Discease Control and Prevention said.

Lumpkin said the student suffered "West Nile virus fever," a mild form of the disease. She was never sick enough to require hospitalization.

Lumpkin said there probably have been other mild cases among Illinois residents but the symptoms were never diagnosed.

He said people should not panic over the possibility of contracting a fatal case of West Nile.

"That risk is fairly small," he said at a Statehouse news conference. "The best thing we can do to prevent this is reduce the number of mosquito bites."

Health officials urge spraying for mosquitoes when the virus has been detected and say people should eliminate standing water from their lawns to reduce their risk. Wearing insect repellent and long pants and shirts are also recommended.

West Nile has been found among animals in 46 Illinois counties.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/06westnile.html

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CDC warns of tularemia outbreak

From the Science & Technology Desk
Published 8/6/2002 6:18 PM
View printer-friendly version

ATLANTA, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Hundreds of prairie dogs have been infected with tularemia -- a bacterium that can be transmitted to humans and cause serious and life-threatening illness -- and some of the animals may have been shipped to nine states and seven countries, public health officials announced Tuesday.

"There have been no known human cases associated with these prairie dog shipments," David Dennis, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news briefing. However, "there is concern about persons who have handled sick or dead animals" over the past three weeks, he said.

People who have been around prairie dogs and have symptoms of the disease -- which can include fever, muscle achiness, chills and headache -- should seek out medical attention immediately, Dennis said.

Dennis noted people generally must be bitten or scratched or come into contact with secretions from infected animals to contract tularemia. Even people who are not sick but who have had contact with prairie dogs should contact a physician because antibiotics can prevent symptoms from developing as well as treat them effectively if they are present.

Other symptoms may appear depending on how the disease was acquired. Most cases enter through the skin and often an open sore and swollen lymph nodes will develop around the site of entry. The bacteria also can be ingested and this generally will cause sores in the mouth and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, Dennis said.

The disease, which cannot be spread from person to person, usually is not fatal. However, the young, the elderly and the immunocompromised may be more vulnerable to death from the disease.

The outbreak began in mid-July and since then authorities have been working to determine its source and where the infected animals were sent. The prairie dogs were caught in Texas and South Dakota and shipped from a distribution center in Denton County, Texas, to pet stores around the world.

CDC officials have determined during the past two months "hundreds of prairie dogs that may potentially be infected with the bacteria were shipped to a number of outlets in various states including Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, Washington, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas, Illinois, Virginia," the agency said in a written statement. "In addition, prairie dogs were also shipped to Japan, (the Czech Republic), (the Netherlands), Belgium, Spain, Italy and Thailand."

So far, sick or dead animals have been found in Texas, West Virginia and the Czech Republic, Dennis said.

Due to the potential for global spread of the outbreak, the World Health Organization and the European Union Disease Surveillance Network have become involved in the investigation.

Tularemia also is a potential bioweapon and is among the CDC's top six agents of concern, although this outbreak does not appear to be a bioterrorist attack, experts told United Press International.

"This is not a way terrorists are going to try to spread tularemia," said R. Gregory Evans, director of the center for the study of bioterrorism and emerging infections at Saint Louis University. Terrorists are more likely to aerosolize tularemia so it can infect the lungs, which increases the lethality of the agent significantly, he said.

"That can almost never happen naturally," Evans said.

Stephen D. Prior, a bioweapons expert at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Arlington, Va., agreed, saying, "I don't' think we'll see the (aerosolized form of tularemia) from prairie dogs."

The CDC noted about 200 human cases of tularemia occur each year in the United States and the disease usually is acquired from handling infected rabbits or being bitten by infected ticks.

(Reported by Steve Mitchell, UPI Medical Correspondent, in Washington)

posted 08-07-2002 01:28 AM               

Tue Aug 6, 9:41 AM ET

Anita Manning USA TODAY

Federal health officials Monday urged calm amid an epidemic caused by West Nile virus that has sickened people in three states and killed four.

More people have become ill with West Nile virus infection this year than any previous year, and the human illnesses have occurred earlier in the summer than ever, says Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ''While we're concerned about the increase in cases, there's no need to panic,'' she says. ''We're not in a crisis mode.''

So far this year, West Nile virus has been detected in 33 states and Washington, D.C. As of Monday, 58 people in Louisiana had been diagnosed with the disease, 22 in Mississippi and eight in Texas.

Health officials in Louisiana are expected to announce more confirmed cases this week, and last week Gov. Mike Foster applied for $12 million in federal funds to help with diagnosis and surveillance.

One out of every five people who become infected with the virus develop symptoms of illness, generally a mild fever and achiness, Gerberding says. Serious complications such as encephalitis, a swelling of the brain, strike one in 150 infected people, she says.

At highest risk for serious illness are people who are elderly or who have health problems that could impair their ability to fight off infection.

Gerberding says there is some indication that the virus may be affecting more younger people than in previous years, but investigations are not yet complete.

The movement of the mosquito-borne virus south and west from New York City, where it appeared in 1999 for the first time on this continent, had been expected by scientists, who believe it is being carried across the country by migrating birds.

Federal and state health agencies have been working to improve lab capacity and mosquito-control plans for the past three years.''This is something we're going to have to learn to live with, because it is very well established in the bird and mosquito populations,'' Gerberding says.

CDC officials announced toll-free numbers for information:*

In English: 888-246-2675* I

n Spanish: 888-246-2857*

TTY for the hearing impaired: 866-874-2646

Or on the Internet: www.cdc.gov.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020806/en_usatoday/4335954

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West Nile Infects 88 in U.S., Not Detected West of Winnipeg

Mon Aug 5, 6:55 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - West Nile virus spread to three new states over the weekend and has now infected 88 people and killed four of them, U.S. health officials said on Monday.

But, officials said the virus had not been detected west of a line running roughly from Winnipeg to Houston in south Texas. I

n Canada, the disease was detected in southern Ontario last summer and health officials acknowledged there was only a remote possibility that migratory birds will have spread it as far west as British Columbia. Describing an outbreak that has taken firm hold in the United States and is spreading more quickly than expected, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more suspected cases are being checked out in several states.

"A total of 88 cases ... have been reported -- 58 in Louisiana, 22 in Mississippi and eight in Texas," CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding told reporters in a telephone briefing. "Thirty-four states have recognized West Nile virus in mosquitoes or birds and those states primarily are on the East Coast of the United States," Gerberding added.

South Dakota, Minnesota and West Virginia all reported cases in birds or mosquitoes for the first time this week. Texas reported two more cases on Monday, bringing its total to 10, and Louisiana health officials were expecting to report 20 more cases later in the day but were working to confirm some cases.

"This is only the beginning," Dr. Raoult Ratard, an epidemiologist for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said Friday. "We have more cases already this year than we have had in any of the three previous years, so this will obviously be a peak year," Dr. Jim Hughes, head of infectious diseases at the CDC, told the briefing. "Given that we are early in the transmission season we are concerned that we will see more cases."

West Nile was first reported in the United States in 1999 and health officials say they will probably never know how it got carried across the Atlantic from Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe, where it is common.

It normally infects birds, but mosquitoes become infected when they feed on birds and can then carry it to people. A few of the people who become infected develop flu-like symptoms such as fever and muscle aches, and a small percentage of these can develop encephalitis or meningitis -- inflammations of the brain and spinal cord. These can turn deadly, especially in the elderly.

The four deaths so far this year have been in Louisiana and three were in patients over 70, who often have less-than-robust immune systems. The fourth victim was 58, according to the Louisiana health department.

Gerberding said the first patient became ill in June, a month sooner than in the past three years. "We are a little concerned because the cases are appearing a bit earlier in the year than they have in the past and there is a suggestion that some of the people with encephalitis syndrome are a bit younger than people in previous years," she said.

Hughes said it was not surprising the virus was showing up earlier in the Southeast, where mosquitoes breed and bite year-round.

Gerberding and other CDC officials said people should protect themselves from mosquito bites by covering up with clothing, using mosquito repellents and cleaning up standing water. Mosquitoes can breed in a bottle cap, puddles in a pool cover, children's toys or a blocked rain gutter.