“We’ve never seen deaths in Ontario before.”-Neha Gandhi, Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, Canada

23 October 2012, while Canada is not a state of the U.S., and this posting is about U.S. West Nile cases, it must be noted that much colder Ontario, Canada, has just had four people die from the virus.  It’s the first deaths since West Nile first appeared in Ontario back in 2002!

The state of New Jersey just reported five more human deaths from West Nile virus.  The state reports at least 45 human cases.

As of 16 October the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been notified of 4,531 cases.  This is almost 300 cases more than the week before.  On 04 October the CDC had been notified of 4,249 cases, which is more than the high number of cases in 2003.  Yet I’ve seen many news articles since then that continue to say 2012 is still not as bad as 2003!

Here’s what the CDC said: “The 4,531 cases reported thus far in 2012 is the highest number of West Nile virus disease cases reported to CDC through the third week in October since 2003.”

The CDC said basically the same thing in their 04 October report.  So why are the media reporting confusing numbers?  For one, they’re going by total yearly numbers and 2003 hit 9,862 for the entire year.  The CDC is making their claim based on the number reported for the same time period, and there’s a couple months left to go.

A second reason why it’s hard to report numbers is that many cases take weeks to months to confirm, so we could see 2012 cases being confirmed a couple of months into 2013.  It’s the same when it comes to determining cause of death.

It takes weeks or months of lab testing to determine if the cause of death was the virus, or not.  This is why some local health officials are clarifying that they don’t know for sure how many people have died from the virus.

At this point the death toll, as reported to CDC, is at least 183 (does not include those people who died since 16 October), and 51% of those who get infected get the more deadly neuroinvasive (meningitis or encephalitis) virus.

Another reason for confusing media reports is because some media sources are reporting only the cases of the more deadly neuroinvasive (meningitis or encephalitis) form of the West Nile virus.

Arizona reporting three deaths since the 16 October CDC report.

Florida reporting another human case of West Nile. There are at least 26 cases.

Mississippi State Department of Health reported eight new human cases on 22 October. So far the southern state has 233 cases, with five deaths.  Local media says the peak time of year for West Nile is normally July through September.

Michigan reports 223 human cases (one local media source is reporting 196 cases, but that might be from CDC numbers which are about a week behind), 13 deaths.  The midwestern state is parked near Canada, and is much cooler than Mississippi, yet continues to have West Nile cases. In 2011 there were a total of 34 cases reported in Michigan.

Three new cases in Georgia. Last week a man died after fighting West Nile for two and a half months. He had been paralyzed, and finally asked to be taken off life support.  Officials there say you can’t rely on cooler weather to stop the virus:  “Folks do kind of think since its cooler the mosquitoes aren’t biting but that’s not so…..”-Jackie Jenkins, Southwest Public Health District

A Pennsylvania media source investigated state and local officials’ claims that the anti-mosquito insecticide they’re using is safe for humans.   Their investigation revealed a big FAIL.  The warning label for Zenivex E20 (aka etofenprox) states: “Hazardous to humans and domestic animals”

Also in Pennsylvania, health officials are reporting high numbers of infected mosquitoes, despite colder weather: “That worked out to an infection rate of somewhere just under seven mosquitoes per thousand, which is about as high as we’ve ever had it.”-Phil Hall, Lebanon County virus surveillance officer

Louisiana reports nine new human cases, four of which are the more deadly neuroinvasive (meningitis or encephalitis) virus.  The southern state is at 321 cases, just short of their 2002 numbers.

On 18 October Texas reported 1,683 cases with 77 deaths.

On 20 October California reported another death from West Nile (at least 11 deaths this year).  There are 35 new human cases, the west coast state now has 301 cases. But it’s not just humans.  21 horse cases, more than 1,500 dead birds tested positive, as did chickens and squirrels.  State health officials also warn that at least 52 blood donors tested positive for West Nile!

In Illinois, people are upset over the death of an eight years old girls.  Just months after being diagnosed with leukemia she got West Nile.  One of her aunts said things were looking up when she suddenly died: “She had been improving. We got a call to go up to the hospital in the afternoon and stayed until she was gone. We’re just in shock. No one expected this.”-Lorie McElheny

Illinois has at last 139 human cases.

Oklahoma reports a 12th human death, and 173 cases.

In Minnesota, one man’s struggle with West Nile shows that it doesn’t go away.  Jerry Livermore got infected back in 2010.  He survived, but hasn’t fully recovered.  He now uses a walker, and he’s lost all memory of the 43 days he spent in the intensive care unit at the local hospital.   He has to use a walker because the virus affected his ability to balance.