Southern California could see rise in West Nile
cases
RIVERSIDE “”mdash; The wet winter has created ripe conditions for
mosquito breeding and experts are concerned the West Nile virus
will spread throughout the region this year with scores of human
and horse infections.
West Nile swept across the nation to California in six years,
with all but two of the state’s 27 deaths last year occurring
in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Eighty-eight people died nationwide last year.
The virus usually shows up first in birds, then strikes hard the
next year, infecting people and horses and killing birds by the
thousands.
Mosquito-control agencies are already seeing unseasonably large
numbers of mosquito larvae in wet and marshy areas, and earlier
this month Los Angeles County reported the nation’s first
human West Nile case of 2005.
By the end of 2004, the virus had surfaced in all 58 California
counties. California had 828 known human infections, including 711
in Southern California.
Compiled from Bruin wire services.