An 85-year-old Evanston woman who died last week was the city’s first confirmed death from West Nile virus.
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Monday two new deaths from the virus, including a northern Cook County woman who was hospitalized Aug. 18 and died Wednesday. Evanston’s director of Health and Human Services, Jay Terry, confirmed the woman was an Evanston resident who lived near Central Street, but would not disclose her name.
Evanston, along with the rest of the North Shore, has been hit hard in the last month by the West Nile virus The city logged 30 confirmed human cases through Wednesday. Skokie has had 40 cases, including a 78-year-old man who died from the virus earlier this month.
“The state has confirmed that we are in a ?hot spot’ area,” Terry said.
Through Monday, the state had confirmed about 500 cases of the virus, including 27 deaths The West Nile virus first hit in New York in 1999 and has spread across the country since, reaching California this year.
Illinois discovered the virus in birds in September 2001, but the first human case did not appear until this summer. Evanston’s first human case was confirmed in mid-August after crows in the area nearby had been wiped out in the weeks before.
“The history of this disease is that it moves into new areas and attacks the weakest animals and humans in the area,” Terry said. Though the disease likely will not be gone by next summer, the first year usually is the hardest, he said.
The virus should stop spreading after the first hard freeze kills off most mosquitoes.
“I’m praying for that early frost,” said Mary Scott, the city’s communicable diseases coordinator, who has helped deal with the issue.
The city has participated in a state-wide task force to combat the problem, and the North Shore Mosquito Abatement Network has sprayed neighborhoods to kill the mosquitoes. Several other agencies also have participated.
“Evanston’s prevention efforts are mostly along the lines of education,” Scott said.
She added it is important to clean up standing water Common symptoms include high fever, extreme fatigue, headache, sight problems and, for some, a rash or a stiff neck. The death rate from the virus is slim, but Scott and Terry said the virus may be more widespread than the numbers show.
“What I’m noticing is, we get those tested who have the complete symptoms,” Scott said. “But probably 90 percent of the people who get West Nile fever, or the infection, don’t even get sick enough to go to a doctor.”
Every person who has died from the virus in Illinois was at least 60 years old, though cases of infection have been spread more evenly among adults.
Scott said she hopes Illinois will follow other states’ experience and see cases drop next summer. But the virus probably will not go away soon, she said.
“Man has never conquered the mosquito,” Scott added. “We have to learn to live with it.”
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Woman’s death marks 30th confirmed case of virus in Evanston