94 percent of cases caused by West Nile Virus; 63 percent of these classified as neuroinvasive disease
THURSDAY, Aug. 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) — A total of 2,813 cases of domestic arboviral disease were identified in 2018, of which 94 percent were West Nile Virus, according to research published in the Aug. 9 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Emily McDonald, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues summarized surveillance data reported to the CDC on nationally notifiable arboviruses for 2018.
The researchers found that 48 states and the District of Columbia reported 2,813 cases of domestic arboviral disease, including 2,647 cases of West Nile Virus (94 percent). Sixty-three percent of the West Nile Virus cases were classified as neuroinvasive disease (e.g., meningitis, encephalitis, and acute flaccid paralysis), for a national incidence of West Nile Virus neuroinvasive disease of 0.51 cases per 100,000 population.
“Understanding the epidemiology, seasonality, and geographic distribution of these arboviruses is important for clinical recognition and differentiation from other neurologic infections,” the authors write. “Because human vaccines against domestic arboviruses are not available, prevention depends on community and household efforts to reduce vector populations, personal protective measures to decrease mosquito and tick exposures, and blood donation screening to minimize alternative routes of transmission.”
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