Utah confirms 2 more human West Nile cases

Health officials have confirmed two more cases of West Nile virus in Utah, bringing this year's confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne illness in Utah to three.

On Friday, the state health department confirmed that two adults, one in Uintah County and one in Duchesne County, had contracted the virus. Preliminary testing by the TriCounty Health Department in Vernal has also found a third adult case in Duchesne, but the state has yet to confirm that case.

Earlier this week, the state confirmed an adult in Utah County had contracted the virus.

"The results don't surprise me at all," said TriCounty Health Department Director Joseph Shaffer. "My gut feeling is that there are a lot more."

Also Friday, Davis County officials confirmed the presence of West Nile virus in two sentinel flocks in west Layton and at the western border of West Bountiful and Woods Cross.

"Now that we've got the positive tests from two of our flocks, we're stepping up the amount of spraying throughout the county beyond the already aggressive efforts that we've done so far this season," said Gary Hatch, district manager for the Mosquito Abatement District-Davis.

Last year, West Nile virus killed 100 people in the United States, but none of the 11 people in Utah who had the disease died.

The two adults in Uintah and Duchesne counties who contracted the virus are ex- pected to fully recover, Shaffer said. He said the man in Duchesne who contracted the virus and the one of which is yet to be confirmed by the state, are between the ages of 45 and 65 -years -old. The man in Uintah County who is a confirmed carrier of the virus is over 65.

The Green River runs through both Uintah and Duchesne counties, and Shaffer called it a corridor for mosquitoes carrying the virus.

"If I tested 100 people along the river half would come up positive" for exposure to the virus, Shaffer said, but most would develop natural antibodies that would kill the virus before symptoms developed.

Shaffer said he gets a half dozen calls a day from people who think they have the virus. He attributes the increase in calls to a heightened public awareness.

Most people infected never show symptoms. Symptoms may include fever, body aches, headache, skin rash and occasionally swollen lymph nodes. Less than 1 percent of those infected die. In those cases, victims may experience paralysis, inflammation of the brain or meningitis.

To prevent infection, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using repellent or covering up when outdoors. The CDC also recommends draining areas of standing water where mosquitoes may lay eggs. The disease is often spread by infected birds who fly over long distances, but it can only be transmitted to humans through infected mosquitoes.

---

E-mail: jhyde@desnews.com