MONDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- Mosquito-borne West Nile virus spread to 52 additional counties in the United States in 2006, with 1,491 people developing acute neuroinvasive illness, a 14 percent increase from the previous year, according to a study in the June 8 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from state health departments and CDC that is fed into ArboNET, the Internet-based arbovirus surveillance system. The researchers focused primarily on human West Nile neuroinvasive disease, which is more consistently identified and reported than West Nile fever because of its severity.
Overall, 4,261 cases of West Nile virus were reported in 2006 in 731 counties in 43 states and the District of Columbia. West Nile fever accounted for 2,612 cases, 158 were unspecified and the remainder were West Nile neuroinvasive disease. Idaho accounted for 139 of the neuroinvasive cases, or 9.3 percent of the national total. Neuroinvasive disease occurred primarily in the west-central states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Overall, 161 patients died.
"In the absence of an effective human vaccine, prevention of West Nile virus disease depends on community-level mosquito control (e.g., larviciding, adulticiding and breeding-site reduction) and promotion of personal protection against mosquito bites, such as use of repellents and avoiding outdoor exposure when mosquitoes are most active (usually from dusk to dawn)," according to the report.
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