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West Nile Virus case reported
08/06/08 - 10:05 AM
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A West Feliciana Parish man has fallen ill with the West Nile virus and a Rapides Parish boy has encephalitis blamed on the LaCrosse virus, the state epidemiologist reported.

Dr. Raoult Ratard also reported the year’s third case of less dangerous West Nile fever in Louisiana.

The patient whose nervous system was infected by the West Nile virus is a West Feliciana Parish man between 60 and 75, according to a report filed late Tuesday.

The report added that the LaCrosse encephalitis patient is at most 14 years old.

The third West Nile fever patient is in St. Tammany Parish. The others, diagnosed earlier, were in East Baton Rouge and Caddo parishes.

Blood donations have not turned up any new infections without symptoms. Three were diagnosed earlier this year. Donated blood is tested to protect people who need transfusions from getting the virus.

West Nile virus has spread throughout Louisiana, so health officials advise year-round precautions against mosquito bites.   

Most people infected by the virus never show any symptoms. But about one in five gets a flu-like illness, and about one in 150 develops the more dangerous kind of infection.
   

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