West Nile Virus in Florida

Health officials on Monday issued an alert for 14 north Florida counties after detecting the state’s first presumed case of the potentially deadly West Nile virus in a human.

The mosquito-borne virus killed nine people and infected dozens in the northeastern United States in 1999 and 2000.

Florida health officials said they would have confirmation by week’s end whether a man in north Florida’s Madison County had contracted the virus, which has already been found in at least 16 animals in the region.

Florida Department of Health Secretary Dr. Robert Brooks said in a prepared statement that he issued the health alert in response to the potential West Nile case and the increasing activity of eastern equine encephalitis, another mosquito-borne virus that has turned up in animals in Florida’s northern Panhandle region.

Agency spokesman Frank Penela said no further details were available on the Madison case late on Monday.

West Nile virus, which is believed to have originated in Africa, is spread by mosquitoes, which pass it on to humans or other mammals after taking in the blood of infected birds. The virus causes inflammation of the brain that can be fatal. It cannot be passed between humans.

The virus was unknown in the United States until it infected 82 people, killing nine, in the New York area in 1999 and 2000. No treatment is currently available for the disease, which is most prevalent in Asia and Africa, health officials said.

Symptoms include fever, dizziness, headache, fatigue, confusion and weakness. People over 50 years old and those with weakened immune systems are most susceptible, health officials said.

State health officials urged residents to avoid the outdoors between dusk and dawn, wear long pants and long-sleeved clothing and use mosquito repellent.

They also urged residents to eliminate standing water where mosquitoes tend to lay their eggs, such as water in old tires, cans and bottles.

Health officials last month issued health alerts to residents in Holmes, Washington and Jackson counties following an outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis.

Monday’s announcement extended the alert to Bay, Calhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Franklin, Jefferson, Liberty, Leon, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla counties in Florida.

The 14 counties affected out of Florida’s 67 are all in the northern part of the state.

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