Nile virus this year because of federal budget cuts and the knowledge that
last year the disease spread to every county but one.
Last year, the state lab tested 1,650 dead birds for the mosquito-borne
West Nile virus, and found it in 604. But “there won’t be enough money to do
everything we did last year,” J.B. Hanson, spokesman for the state Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene, said yesterday.
Instead, he said, state health officials are drafting plans to concentrate
their surveillance for the virus on people and horses.
Last year, 36 Marylanders — mostly in Central Maryland — received a
diagnosis of West Nile encephalitis or meningitis, and seven died. The disease
was diagnosed in 30 horses, with 13 fatalities.
Hanson said that about $200,000 — a third of the federal funding for the
state’s 2003 West Nile virus testing — was cut by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will be asking officials in
Washington to restore the support, Hanson added.
The bird testing was designed to track the spread of the virus, but by last
year it had been found everywhere except Somerset County. “Based on the last
three years of observation, the West Nile virus is here to stay,” Hanson said.
State officials are worried about the possibility of a sharp increase in
West Nile illnesses in rural counties where the virus appeared last season for
the first time. Of particular concern are portions of the Eastern Shore and
Southern Maryland where the wet terrain and abundant rains this year have
produced more mosquitoes than normal.
More Top Picks Best Art Portfolios For Artists
Cy Lesser, chief of the state’s Mosquito Control Division, said most state
and federal officials agree that West Nile illnesses here will likely continue
to increase “at least for a while.” Six human cases were found in Maryland in
2001, and six times that number were found last year.
“Hopefully that [growth] rate won’t continue, but we do expect to see an
increase in human cases in 2003 as compared with last year,” Lesser said. “I
hope we’re wrong.”
In Baltimore, Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the health commissioner, said
yesterday that the city likewise will not pick up dead birds for testing this
year. Instead, residents are asked to double-bag the carcasses and dispose of
them in the garbage.
The city will continue to monitor mosquito populations, he said. But little
if any spraying for adult mosquitoes will be done unless large numbers of
people become ill with West Nile infections. The city will use more
environmentally friendly biological agents to kill mosquito larvae in standing
water.
City health officials have also stepped up their outreach to doctors and
other health professionals, urging them to consider the West Nile virus when
they encounter symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis — inflammations of the
linings of the brain and spinal cord.
With better surveillance, Beilenson said he “would not be shocked” to see
25 West Nile illnesses diagnosed in Baltimore this year, up from five last
year.
In Maryland, about 800 people with symptoms of encephalitis were tested for
West Nile antibodies last year.
Most people infected with the West Nile virus have no symptoms. Those who
do may experience mild flulike symptoms such as fever, head and body aches.
About one infected person in 150 will develop a more serious illness,
including high fever, stiff neck, disorientation, coma, convulsions, paralysis
and, rarely, death.
People older than 50, or with immune systems weakened by chemotherapy or by
drugs prescribed to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs, are at the
greatest risk.
Nationally last year, the virus spread to 40 states. Some 4,156 people were
hospitalized, and 284 died. Illinois saw the highest number of cases, with 884
sickened and 64 dead.
The numbers have made news because the illness is new to the United States.
Compared with many other illnesses, such as AIDS or hepatitis, Beilenson said,
the West Nile virus “is not a truly serious public health threat. It’s not
that common at all.”
“The flu affects over 100 times more individuals each year in Baltimore and
the state, with more serious consequences,” he said.
But people can act to avoid mosquito bites and potential infection. He
urged residents to eliminate standing water on their property — tires,
birdbaths, buckets, flowerpots, even upturned bottle caps — that might
provide a place for the insects to breed.