Modesto Bee Article

By Modesto Bee Staff Reporter
last updated: July 3, 2008 11:58:20 PM

A 78-year-old man is in a Modesto hospital with the second confirmed human case of West Nile virus this year in Stanislaus County. The victim has "neurological symptoms," according to a news release Thursday from the county Health Services Agency, which did not say where the man lives.

The first human case in the county was announced Wednesday. The HSA said a 47-year-old Modesto-area woman tested positive for the mosquito-borne illness. She had mild symptoms and was not hospitalized.

There have been three confirmed human cases of West Nile virus in California this year -- two in Stanislaus County and one in Tulare County.

County health officials are concerned because the positive tests came so early in the summer. They are more than two weeks earlier than the first cases last year and more than three weeks earlier than in 2006.

Most people who become infected with the virus don't have the symptoms, which can include headaches, body aches, fever and fatigue. In rare cases, people are stricken with serious nervous system disorders, long-term illness or death.

In Stanislaus County, West Nile virus has killed two people: a 67-year-old Modesto man who died in April after contracting the illness in August 2007, and a 63-year-old Patterson man in 2005.

In 2007, there were 21 deaths statewide attributed to West Nile virus.

As of Thursday, the West Nile virus was found in six dead birds in Stanislaus County and 21 in San Joaquin County.

Stanislaus County's two mosquito abatement districts were spraying to minimize exposure in parks and places where people may gather for the holiday today.

People are advised to use insect repellent, wear clothes that reduce skin exposure, make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens, and eliminate water in flower pots and rain gutters.

Officials believe the warm weather that began in mid-May created conditions for an early emergence of West Nile virus.