The Westerly Sun 8/30/00 Back

N. STONINGTON - A local woman who serves as president of the Avalonia Land Conservancy is recovering after becoming the first documented human case of West Nile virus in Connecticut.

Anne Nalwalk, 66, said she was diagnosed with the deadly virus two weeks ago: Experiencing muscle weakness, headache and fever, Nalwalk decided to get checked at her local clinic, the North Stonington Medical Walk-in Center, PC. Dr. Jerzy Stocki ordered blood tests, which confirmed the West Nile diagnosis a week later, she said.

State Department of Public Health Epidemiologist Randall Nelson confirmed Friday that a North Stonington woman's blood tested positive for the virus. The state's tests, Nelson said, confirmed that antibodies specific to the West Nile virus were present in the woman's blood.

Nalwalk said she hasn't been able to pinpoint exactly where or when she contracted the disease. She said she had recently visited Colorado and New York State, and Colorado has reported 263 human cases of the disease and' six resulting deaths. But there is really no clear way to determine in which state Nalwalk became infected, according to Nelson.

"We can't really know, considering where the exposure took place in the last two weeks of July," Nelson said. "We had some West Nile virus circulating at the time, but we didn't have many positive birds. In Colorado, while it has riot been uniform circulation, there have been a lot of cases in Colorado. She really could have been infected in either place."

Nalwalk says she believes she may have contracted the virus closer to home.

"I did visit Colorado from (July 26 to Aug. 6)," Nalwalk said. "But I don't think I developed it there," she said. While in Colorado, Nalwalk said, she was mainly in dry regions and wasn't outside during peak mosquito hours; which are typically early in the ^.morning and during the evening.

Nalwalk's lab report shows she was tested on Saturday, Aug. 9; she received the confirmation call from Dr. Stockli on Thursday, Aug. 14. Despite the possibility of being exposed while in Colorado, Nalwalk said she had meet recently been exposed to mosquitoes during their peak hours while on conservancy site walks in Stonington.

Nalwalk said there's not much she or doctors can do in the way of treatment. West Nile, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is a potentially serious illness that affects the central nervous system. Experts believe West Nile to be a seasonal epidemic in. North America that typically shows up in the summer and continues into fall.

"It's a virus. I just have to wait it out," she said.

As of Friday, Connecticut had reported confirming 58 cases of West Nile Virus in birds this year - in 40 towns in seven counties. Those include Ledyard, Old Lyme, Waterford and Colchester, according to a Connecticut Department of Health release. As of Aug. 21, 146 birds have been submitted to the state mosquito management program for West Nile virus testing. Testing has been reportedly completed on 121 birds and results are pending on 24 as one was not suitable for testing.

The virus had not, however, been reported in humans in Connecticut this year until Nalwalk's confirmation. Despite a number of confirmed cases in birds and mosquitoes in Rhode Island - including several in the Westerly area in 2000 - no human cases had ever previously been confirmed in South County or in southeastern Connecticut. There have not been any Connecticut or Rhode Island reports of West Nile related deaths.

Last year, a reported 17 people in 10 Connecticut towns in Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven counties contracted West Nile virus. Ten people were hospitalized, according to reports by the Department of Public Health.

Nationwide, 753 human cases of West Nile and 16 related deaths have been reported this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, based-in Atlanta.

West Nile is transmitted to humans through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus from infected bird. Generally people over the age of 50 are more likely to develop serious symptoms of West Nile Virus. Though the disease cannot be spread through casual human-to-human contact, it has been transmitted though blood transfusions and organ transplants, health officials say.

In Connecticut, the risk of West Nile Virus peaks between August and September, according to a written statement by State Epidemiologist Randall Nelson. Common symptoms of West Nile virus include fever and headaches, but the virus can also lead to other complications such as encephalitis, meningitis,, convulsions, paralysis or death.

CDC reports show that approximately 80 percent of people who are infected with West Nile never show any symptoms. CDC recommends using insect repellents containing DEET or staying indoors when possible during mosquitoes' active hours from dusk until dawn to lower the risk of contracting West Nile. Health officials in Rhode Island and Connecticut have also emphasized the need to clear away puddles or standing pools of water, which can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Anyone seeking more information about West Nile Virus may visit the federal Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov or the Connecticut State Department of Public Health at www.dph.state.ct.us

Posted by Anthony Benoit abenoit@trcc.commnet.edu
Environmental Engineering Technology at Three Rivers