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Source: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090902/NEWS01/909020320
Swain County boy dies from La Crosse encephalitis
By Nanci Bompey ? September 2, 2009 12:15 AM
BRYSON CITY ? An 8-year-old Swain County boy who succumbed to La Crosse encephalitis is the first person to die of the disease in North Carolina since 2001, health officials announced Tuesday.
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The boy was hospitalized at Mission Hospital in July and died a week later. Samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the boy died as a result of La Crosse encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.
La Crosse encephalitis is rarely fatal, killing less than 1 percent of people who contract the disease, but it can have long-lasting effects on a person's health.
?It is very rare, but it points to the importance of making sure that your environment is such that mosquitoes can't breed,? said Swain County Health Director Linda White. ?Parents just need to be aware of a child's surroundings and how they are dressed and when they are letting them out to play.?
La Crosse is the most common mosquito-borne virus affecting North Carolinians and is largely confined to the western part of the state.
During an average year, about 70 cases of La Crosse encephalitis are reported nationwide. North Carolina had eight reported cases of the disease last year.
There have already been nine cases of La Crosse in the North Carolina so far this summer, and public health officials expect the number of cases to increase through September.
An increase in rainfall, which can lead to more mosquitoes, could be one reason for the higher number of cases of La Crosse this year, said Rachel Long, public health epidemiologist for WNC.
?This case (the death of the boy) brought more attention to the actual disease, so we are reviewing data and trying to determine was there anything different going on this year, or is it just the rain,? Long said.
Only about 1 percent of people who are infected with the virus exhibit symptoms of the disease, which include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, and, in some more severe cases, convulsions, tremors and coma.
Children younger than age 16 and the elderly are most susceptible to La Crosse, which has no cure but is treated by managing its symptoms, which occur from a few days to a couple of weeks after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Swain County boy dies from La Crosse encephalitis
By Nanci Bompey ? September 2, 2009 12:15 AM
BRYSON CITY ? An 8-year-old Swain County boy who succumbed to La Crosse encephalitis is the first person to die of the disease in North Carolina since 2001, health officials announced Tuesday.
Advertisement
The boy was hospitalized at Mission Hospital in July and died a week later. Samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the boy died as a result of La Crosse encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.
La Crosse encephalitis is rarely fatal, killing less than 1 percent of people who contract the disease, but it can have long-lasting effects on a person's health.
?It is very rare, but it points to the importance of making sure that your environment is such that mosquitoes can't breed,? said Swain County Health Director Linda White. ?Parents just need to be aware of a child's surroundings and how they are dressed and when they are letting them out to play.?
La Crosse is the most common mosquito-borne virus affecting North Carolinians and is largely confined to the western part of the state.
During an average year, about 70 cases of La Crosse encephalitis are reported nationwide. North Carolina had eight reported cases of the disease last year.
There have already been nine cases of La Crosse in the North Carolina so far this summer, and public health officials expect the number of cases to increase through September.
An increase in rainfall, which can lead to more mosquitoes, could be one reason for the higher number of cases of La Crosse this year, said Rachel Long, public health epidemiologist for WNC.
?This case (the death of the boy) brought more attention to the actual disease, so we are reviewing data and trying to determine was there anything different going on this year, or is it just the rain,? Long said.
Only about 1 percent of people who are infected with the virus exhibit symptoms of the disease, which include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, and, in some more severe cases, convulsions, tremors and coma.
Children younger than age 16 and the elderly are most susceptible to La Crosse, which has no cure but is treated by managing its symptoms, which occur from a few days to a couple of weeks after being bitten by an infected mosquito.