West Nile disease a mosquito-born illness has reached epidemic proportions in Michigan, particularly in older suburbs that ring metro Detroit and Grand Rapids, state health officials warned Wednesday.
Michigans 80 cases, including four deaths, from West Nile disease, rank the state as the sixth highest in the nation with the problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those at great risk are people over the age of 50, are pregnant or have compromised immune systems, such as kidney and cancer patients.
Michigan and the five other states Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisianaaccount for 70% of the nations West Nile cases, the CDC said Wednesday. Only Alaska and Hawaii have no reports of the disease so far.
Michigans cases put it on track to match the states worst West Nile outbreak in 2002, when 644 people contracted the disease and 51 died, said Dr. Dean Sienko, interim chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Community Health, speaking Wednesday in a telephone media briefing.
This is something people need to pay attention to, particularly over the age of 50 who are most vulnerable to developing serious health problems from the disease, Sienko said.
Both he and CDC officials described the outbreak this year an epidemic because cases already surpass the number reported in any year since 1999, when the first U.S. reports of the disease were found near New York Citys JFK International Airport.
Dry, warm weather appears to have contributed to rising cases and will continue to pose problems as long as night-time temperatures remain above 50 degreesideal mosquito-breeding weather, health and science officials say.
Michigans 80 cases required hospitalization of 62 people, and four died, all in metro Detroit, Sienko said. He expects the cases to continue to climb for another month, because it typically takes up to two weeks for symptoms to occur after a person is bitten and diagnosed.
The latest death reported this week was an 86-year-old Wayne County resident.
All four Michigan deaths have been among people over the age of 50.
Michigan ranks in the top seven states with the most West Nile cases, federal health officials said today, in a separate media briefing. Dallas is the epicenter of the outbreak, a state where more than half of all reported cases have been located.
Cases reported this year are on track to match Michigans worst West Nile outbreak in 2002, when 644 people contracted the disease and 51 died, Sienko said.
As much as 80% of this years West Nile cases in Michigan have been in the tri-county Detroit area, particularly suburbs built after World War II with more densely populated communities and storm drains and street catch basins where mosquitoes breed, said Ned Walker, a Michigan State University microbiologist and West Nile expert.
Suburbs with higher West Nile cases this year include Allen Park, Berkley, Royal Oak, Westland, Redford Township and Dearborn Heights, he said. We know where the virus is active, Walker said. Certain communities are most vulnerable.
He called storm drains these little mosquito factories for the single species, Culex pipiens, that appears to be the sole carrier of West Nile disease, he said.
Michiganders should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites through September and possibly into early October, when cases begin to drop as temperatures dip below 50 degrees at night, he said.
While only one in five people bitten by infected mosquitoes develop symptoms, the disease can be fatal or serious in one in 150 people, Sienko said.
Dr. Steve Halstead, a veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that while horses and other animals can contract the virus, Michigan only has one case so far this year, in an horse in Montcalm County that hadn't been vaccinated. There is a vaccine against the virus for horses, but not for humans. Halstead attributed the fact that Michigan only has one case involving a horse to the fact that many horse owners have followed recommendations to vaccinate their animals.
For a link to current cases in Michigan, go to: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/2012_Human_test_results_377334_7.xls
Contact Patricia Anstett: 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com
Michigans 80 cases, including four deaths, from West Nile disease, rank the state as the sixth highest in the nation with the problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those at great risk are people over the age of 50, are pregnant or have compromised immune systems, such as kidney and cancer patients.
Michigan and the five other states Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisianaaccount for 70% of the nations West Nile cases, the CDC said Wednesday. Only Alaska and Hawaii have no reports of the disease so far.
Michigans cases put it on track to match the states worst West Nile outbreak in 2002, when 644 people contracted the disease and 51 died, said Dr. Dean Sienko, interim chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Community Health, speaking Wednesday in a telephone media briefing.
This is something people need to pay attention to, particularly over the age of 50 who are most vulnerable to developing serious health problems from the disease, Sienko said.
Both he and CDC officials described the outbreak this year an epidemic because cases already surpass the number reported in any year since 1999, when the first U.S. reports of the disease were found near New York Citys JFK International Airport.
Dry, warm weather appears to have contributed to rising cases and will continue to pose problems as long as night-time temperatures remain above 50 degreesideal mosquito-breeding weather, health and science officials say.
Michigans 80 cases required hospitalization of 62 people, and four died, all in metro Detroit, Sienko said. He expects the cases to continue to climb for another month, because it typically takes up to two weeks for symptoms to occur after a person is bitten and diagnosed.
The latest death reported this week was an 86-year-old Wayne County resident.
All four Michigan deaths have been among people over the age of 50.
Michigan ranks in the top seven states with the most West Nile cases, federal health officials said today, in a separate media briefing. Dallas is the epicenter of the outbreak, a state where more than half of all reported cases have been located.
Cases reported this year are on track to match Michigans worst West Nile outbreak in 2002, when 644 people contracted the disease and 51 died, Sienko said.
As much as 80% of this years West Nile cases in Michigan have been in the tri-county Detroit area, particularly suburbs built after World War II with more densely populated communities and storm drains and street catch basins where mosquitoes breed, said Ned Walker, a Michigan State University microbiologist and West Nile expert.
Suburbs with higher West Nile cases this year include Allen Park, Berkley, Royal Oak, Westland, Redford Township and Dearborn Heights, he said. We know where the virus is active, Walker said. Certain communities are most vulnerable.
He called storm drains these little mosquito factories for the single species, Culex pipiens, that appears to be the sole carrier of West Nile disease, he said.
Michiganders should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites through September and possibly into early October, when cases begin to drop as temperatures dip below 50 degrees at night, he said.
While only one in five people bitten by infected mosquitoes develop symptoms, the disease can be fatal or serious in one in 150 people, Sienko said.
Dr. Steve Halstead, a veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that while horses and other animals can contract the virus, Michigan only has one case so far this year, in an horse in Montcalm County that hadn't been vaccinated. There is a vaccine against the virus for horses, but not for humans. Halstead attributed the fact that Michigan only has one case involving a horse to the fact that many horse owners have followed recommendations to vaccinate their animals.
For a link to current cases in Michigan, go to: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/2012_Human_test_results_377334_7.xls
Contact Patricia Anstett: 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com
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