From the Turlock Journal
November 9, 2021
A Stanislaus County woman has become the first person this year in the county to be diagnosed with St. Louis encephalitis virus, according to the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency.
The woman’s name and hometown were not released. She is in her 50s. She had neurologic symptoms and was tested in September; confirmatory testing was performed by the California Department of Public Health and recently released by the SCHSA.
As of the last state surveillance report of Nov. 5, St. Louis encephalitis virus has been detected in mosquitoes in eight California counties. The Stanislaus County woman is the one person in California testing positive for SLEV in 2021. SLEV is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. SLEV was detected in mosquitoes in Stanislaus County in September of this year. Most people infected with SLEV have no apparent illness. Initial symptoms of those who become ill include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and tiredness. Severe neuroinvasive disease (often involving encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain) occurs more commonly in older adults.