West Nile Virus Cases Exceeding

I apologize for this being so late. I have been extremely sick, and unable to have internet access at home.


The number of West Nile Virus cases in the United States has already exceeded the second-highest annual total. As of Tuesday, 4,531 cases of West Nile have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 183 deaths. This means the case count up has surpassed the totals for 2006, when there were 4,269 cases including 177 victims. But at this point in the year, it's implausible that another 5,000 cases will develop, so the 2012 WNV season probably won't be the worst on documentation. That was in 2003, when there were 9,862 sicknesses and 264 deaths reported. Texas continues to be hardest-hit state, where more than a third of the total quantity of illnesses and nearly a third of the deaths have occurred. About a month ago, Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, said he believes "the worst part of the epidemic is behind us." Given that the Indian summer in some parts of the country is waning and cold temperatures have already moved into other regions, the atmosphere for an increasing mosquito resident is becoming more aggressive.

Obviously this is a huge problem in the world today. The virus has been killing off people for a very long time, and there has yet to have been a complete vaccine for it. I find this very disturbing because I have had a friend visit Africa last summer, and she had to get the vaccine in order to be able to go. She got the medicine for free, while where the virus actually is no one is getting any attention and the vaccine is very hard to get a hold of.