West Nile infection claims 3rd Utahn

West Nile virus has claimed another Utah victim, this one from Carbon County, bringing the death toll in the state so far to three. And 2006 is now officially the most active West Nile season in Utah history.

All three of the Utahns who died were over 65. Two were from Utah County.

"We had 52 human infections total last year," said Lisa Wyman, an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. "We're up to 65 total for this year, and we're probably roughly halfway through our season."

This time last year, there were only 12 confirmed cases. The vast majority came later in the season, according to health officials, and will quite likely do so this year, as well.

It does not appear that Utah cases have peaked yet, Wyman said, and they probably won't until about mid-September. Even then, there will continue to be infections until night temperatures drop down into the 40s.

"Eighty-degree days and 60-degree nights are just fine for the vector mosquitoes," she said, adding that people need to take precautions for the next few weeks. Even when the mosquito season starts to decline, "lots of people can still become ill."

"The game's not over" until October or later, Wyman said.

The virus is now active in 19 of Utah's 29 counties, with severe concentrations along the Wasatch Front, particularly in Utah and Salt Lake counties.

In just the past week, 27 more human cases have been confirmed, bringing the state total to 65. That's an undercount, according to health officials, because unless symptoms are very severe, most people who have the virus will not get a blood test to confirm it.

The virus has now been detected in 359 mosquito pools statewide, including 233 in Salt Lake County. Thirty-one of the human cases are in Utah County, while another 20 are in Salt Lake.

State health experts are urging people to continue taking precautions from dusk to dawn, when affected mosquitoes are active. Those steps includes wearing long pants and sleeves when outdoors, getting rid of standing water and using products such as DEET or picardin to repel the bugs.

This year, about half the human cases reported have been neuro-invasive, the most severe form of the disease and the one linked to deaths. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that occurs in about 1 in 150 cases, which supports the theory that many less severe cases are not being diagnosed.

The department says one-third of those with the virus have been hospitalized. And the ages of the victims cover the spectrum, including infants, although most of the cases have been in people over 40.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com