Kindgo
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59433,00.html
AP
Friday, August 02, 2002
SLIDELL, La. — The West Nile virus has infected 58 Louisiana residents, killing four of them, while spreading to virtually every part of the state, health officials said Friday.
Earlier this week, health officials confirmed that an 83-year-old Baton Rouge woman had died from West Nile. The latest victims include a 53-year-old man from Folsom, a 75-year-old man from Baton Rouge and a 72-year-old man from the Calcasieu Parish town of Iowa.
On Friday, the Department of Health and Hospitals said it had confirmed the first human cases of West Nile virus in Washington, Allen, Orleans, Calcasieu and Ouachita parishes.
Following an initial outbreak in southeastern Louisiana in June, the virus has now spread to New Orleans in the far southeast, the Lake Charles area in southwestern Louisiana and to the Monroe area in the northeast.
Gov. Mike Foster declared a statewide emergency, a move he said could help bring in federal money to fight the nation's second-worst epidemic of the West Nile virus, which can cause the potentially fatal brain inflammation known as encephalitis, as well as milder illnesses.
Foster said he hopes the declaration will pave the way for federal cash to help parishes which are using up their money for mosquito spraying far faster than usual.
"There ought to be some kind of relief. This is an emergency situation," Foster said Thursday on his weekly "Live Mike" radio show.
New York, where the first and worst epidemic occurred in 1999, followed by a smaller outbreak in 2000, got $5 million in emergency money in late 2000. New Jersey, which also had an outbreak in 2000, also got $5 million that year.
Mosquitoes spread the virus from infected birds to humans, who can then develop deadly encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. Most people develop only flu-like symptoms and some don't get sick at all. Humans cannot pass the virus.
The virus is named after the West Nile district in Uganda, where it was first discovered in 1937. Since then, cases have been reported in Europe, the Middle East, West and Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands, as well as Africa and North America.
The virus has been found in 24 Louisiana parishes, including 13 in which human cases have been confirmed. Texas has reported eight human probable cases and Mississippi five.
Foster spokeswoman, Marsanne Golsby, said the governor thinks between $3 million and $5 million would be reasonable and would send a letter Thursday night to President Bush via the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The letter to FEMA asks for money to pay for mosquito spraying, additional bird testing, extra clinical surveys by scientists from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and hospitalization expenses not covered by insurance, Golsby said.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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