How dangerous is North Americas strain of West Nile?
In September 2002, American researchers reported the first polio–like paralysis stemming from West Nile virus. Infectious disease specialists in Ontario began seeing West Nile patients hooked up to ventilators, unable to move or breathe. “There’s more of a tendency to invade the central nervous system and infect neurons and brain stem regions within the individual,” said Michael Drebot, a research scientist at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. In the October 2002 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: • For every five people infected with West Nile, one has mild illness usually lasting three to six days. • Meningitis or encephalitis develops in about one in 50 people infected with West Nile more commonly in those over age 50. The researchers suggest severe muscle weakness is a common symptom that may offer doctors a diagnostic clue. How common is West Nile virus? • In September 2008, t
