Two more in New York test positive for West Nile virus

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two more people have tested positive for the West Nile virus, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Saturday.

The victims, ages 63 and 64, both residents of Staten Island, were treated in hospital and released. Both are recuperating at home and are expected to fully recover.

But their illnesses demonstrate the vulnerability of elderly people to the virus, said New York Health Commissioner Neal Cohen.

Both victims tested positive on Friday. Giuliani said they contracted the virus before the last time the city sprayed on Staten Island.

The victims are the second and third to contract the virus since a 78-year-old Staten Island man became ill on July 20.

Health officials have warned New Yorkers to be more vigilant about the virus, which has been found in a number of birds and is transmitted by mosquitoes feeding on the blood of an infected animal. The virus is not transmitted from human to human or from birds to humans.

The incubation period, once a person is bitten, is three to 15 days, Cohen said, warning that this is the peak period for the disease.

Virus found in the Bronx

Cohen said Saturday that a dead crow found in the Bronx had tested positive for the virus -- the first appearance of the virus there.

VIDEO CNN's Brian Palmer reports in New York City that a man and a woman have come down with the mosquito-spread virus, bringing to three the number of known cases this year. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Giuliani on Saturday announced an aggressive ground and aerial spraying campaign on Staten Island and in the Bronx starting Monday.

Federal officials on August 10 said the virus has spread to a wider geographical area this year, with birds or mosquitoes identified in four northeastern states.

Named for the region in Uganda were it first appeared in 1937, the West Nile virus was not seen in the United States until 1999. Last year it was limited to New York City and Westchester and Nassau counties, where 62 people developed encephalitis and seven died.

The most recent victims of the disease developed aseptic meningitis, a less serious manifestation of the virus, Cohen said Saturday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta this week said that 188 infected birds have been found this year, including 128 in New York, 54 in New Jersey, four in Massachusetts and two in Connecticut.

More than half of the infected birds have been found since August 1, the CDC said. Mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus also have been found in New York and Connecticut.

CDC officials said the discovery of infected birds in upstate New York and Massachusetts indicated the risk of human infection exists in a larger geographical area than in 1999.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  •  Background, West Nile Virus
New York Department of Health

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