West Nile Widespread in D.C.
Stepped up warnings, larva blitz planned as first local case is reported.

August 8, 2002; Page A01
By Sylvia Moreno and Craig Timberg

District health officials said yesterday that mosquitoes collected from 40 locations throughout Washington have tested positive for West Nile virus, a finding that will prompt the city to increase its efforts to kill mosquito eggs and to persuade residents to take preventive measures.

Officials also revealed that a 55-year-old Northwest Washington man has contracted the virus, the first confirmed human case of West Nile in the Washington area this year.

The man has a compromised immune system because of leukemia treatment, said D.C. mayoral spokesman Tony Bullock. Bullock would not release the man's name or other additional details. Health officials said they would provide more information at a news conference this morning.

Georges C. Benjamin, Maryland's secretary of health, said the disease was discovered at a hospital in suburban Maryland. The state laboratory in Baltimore confirmed the diagnosis late yesterday afternoon and called District officials about 6 p.m., he said.

"It's not unexpected," Benjamin said of the region's first case this year. He cautioned the public to be "concerned but not frightened."

West Nile virus can cause flulike symptoms – high fever and headaches – and a red rash on the torso. Even in areas where the virus is present, however, fewer than 1 percent of mosquitoes carry it, and fewer than 1 percent of people bitten by an infected mosquito become seriously ill, health officials say. Most vulnerable are the elderly and people with weak immune systems.

"There is a difference between getting bitten and getting infected, and getting the disease," Benjamin said.

The positive test results on the 40 mosquito pools in the District show how well established the disease has become, health officials said. Last year, only three mosquito pools in the District tested positive for the virus.

The city's announcement came as officials across the country are battling the worst outbreak of West Nile virus since it was detected in the United States in 1999.

A fifth Louisiana resident died from the virus yesterday, and the number of people infected in that state rose to 71. Mississippi has 22 confirmed human cases, while Texas has 10 suspected cases and Arkansas and Illinois each have one.

D.C. officials said that the city's mosquito eradication efforts must be intensified and that an aggressive public information campaign is needed.

"Our message this morning is to not panic. . . . [but] to think prevention and to think protection," said James A. Buford, acting D.C. health director. "Protect yourselves against mosquitoes and the bites of mosquitoes."

District health officials said they will accelerate a program to kill mosquito eggs with larvacide tablets. So far, they have placed the tablets, which are effective for 30 days, in more than 4,200 catch basins and pools of standing water. They encourage residents to buy the tablets, which are available at hardware stores, and put them in mosquito breeding areas such as garden ponds and bird baths.

"It is harmless to fish and wildlife . . . but it is very effective in killing the larvae of mosquitoes," said Theodore J. Gordon, senior deputy director for public health assurance in the District.

Gordon and other officials also urged residents get rid of standing water, use insect repellent with a DEET base – except on children younger than 2 – and wear long-sleeve shirts and pants at dawn or dusk, when the insects feed.

D.C. officials said they will continue to avoid spraying with pesticides, a measure that they said is inappropriate in a heavily populated area with many asthma patients.

Maryland has used larvacide tablets, as well as pesticide spraying when requested by communities. Virginia officials also have sprayed in breeding areas.

In Maryland, four mosquito pools have tested positive for the virus – two in Baltimore County and one each in Howard and Prince George's counties. In Northern Virginia, the virus recently was found in 24 breeding pools in the Fort Myer area, five in Fairfax County and one near the Pentagon.

The mosquitoes that tested positive in the District were collected from Fort McNair in Southwest, Rock Creek Park in Northwest, the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home in Northwest and the 3100 block of Connecticut Avenue NW.

District officials said yesterday that they are phasing out the collection and testing of dead birds for the virus. Such testing is now pointless because the mosquito test results show that the disease is endemic to the area, they said.

The Washington area's only human West Nile infections last year were in Maryland, where there were six cases and two fatalities, both of which involved people suffering from other illnesses.

Staff writers David Cho and Michael E. Ruane contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57195-2002Aug7.html