Alberta confirms first human cases of West Nile this year
Pastor Dale Morgan
Tuesday, Aug 15, 2006
*Alberta confirms first human cases of West Nile this year*
CALGARY - CANADA - (CP) - Alberta's first two human cases of West Nile
infection this year were confirmed Monday by public health officials and
blood screening has detected a third unconfirmed case.
Both confirmed cases are in women living in southern Alberta, but few
details are being release under privacy regulations, including their
names and home towns. Officials will only say that one woman lives in
the southeastern Palliser Health Region, which includes Medicine Hat,
and the other lives in the southwestern Chinook Health Region.
The unconfirmed case is believed to be in Chinook, which includes
Lethbridge. It was detected through routine screening of blood donors,
but the person has not shown symptoms and the results have not been
confirmed yet through laboratory testing.
Since 2003, Palliser has recorded 138 cases of West Nile while Chinook
has had 40 cases.
The women are showing flu-like symptoms, but have not been hospitalized,
said Dr. Karen Grimsrud, deputy health officer for the province.
But Grimsrud said the virus's flu-like symptoms can leave people
bed-ridden for up to a month.
There were only 10 cases of West Nile in Alberta last year and none the
previous year. But a hot summer in 2003 spawned swarms of mosquitoes and
led to dozens of human infections.
Grimsrud said this summer's heat in some areas will likely result in
more cases than last year, but far fewer than in 2003.
"Because the weather is different this year, we may indeed have more
cases in 2006 as compared to the two previous years," she said.
"For the fourth week in a row, the virus activity and the number of
mosquitoes that are infected is increasing. So we will expect to see
West Nile cases in Alberta for about a month now."
The women were likely infected sometime in July and the cases were
confirmed this week by the provincial lab.
"Both of them saw a physician a week or two after they became ill, which
is very typical of what people do when they have this particular
illness," Grimsrud said. "The initial symptoms are, 'Oh, I think I've
got the flu.' "
The disease is now called West Nile non-neurological syndrome after
initially being called West Nile fever. Grimsrud said many patients
showed no sign of fever, so the name was changed.
Symptoms can include fever, sore muscles and fatigue, while in severe
cases there can be paralysis, numbness, vomiting and pounding headaches.
Grimsrud said Albertans need to be reminded to use insect repellent
containing DEET and to cover up with clothing, especially at dawn and dusk.
She said even in areas where there doesn't seem to be a lot of
mosquitoes, the Culex mosquito can dart in quickly and infect someone
who isn't protected in some way.
"They are a tiny mosquito. They're light and they're fast. People aren't
always aware that they're around."
© The Canadian Press, 2006