County resident sickened by mosquito transmitted virus

From The Turlock Journal
December 8, 2017

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency has confirmed that the county has seen its first case of the St. Louis encephalitis virus with the diagnosis of a male county resident in his 70s.

“He had symptoms and was tested in September,” said Stanislaus County Public Health Officer Dr. Julie Vaishampayan. “Confirmatory testing was performed first by the California Department of Public Health, followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The diagnosis marks the second confirmed case of the virus in a person in California for the year.

The East Side and Turlock Mosquito Abatement Districts received confirmation in August that a mosquito sample from Stanislaus County has tested positive for St. Louis Encephalitis virus, which is similar to West Nile Virus and carried by the same type of mosquitoes.

This was the first time the virus had been detected in the area for more than 40 years. As of now, the virus has been found in mosquitoes in 14 California counties.

St. Louis encephalitis virus was recognized in California in 1937 and caused periodic epidemics in humans and horses until 1989, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more