A Louisville woman has been infected with West Nile virus, the city's first known case this year
In some individuals, especially the elderly and people with weaker immune systems, West Nile virus can be fatal.
According to The Courier Journal article, Ann Robinson Burks was notified by her doctor that a test for the virus came back positive. West Nile virus is most commonly spread to humans by bites from infected mosquitoes. According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of the virus occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through the fall.
Louisville officials have recently been conducting fogging operations around the city to fight mosquitoes. In August, mosquitoes that tested positive for West Nile virus were found in several Louisville neighborhoods and across the Ohio River in Floyd County, Indiana.
Five cases of West Nile virus impacting humans were reported in Louisville in 2018, and the virus killed one person in Louisville in 2016. Louisville Metro Department of Public Health spokesman Dave Langdon said he cannot comment on specific cases for patient privacy reasons, but that the health department has not yet confirmed any cases of West Nile virus this year. "Several (cases) have been sent to the state for confirmation, but we have not heard back yet," Langdon wrote in an email.
About one in five people who are infected with West Nile virus develop a fever and other symptoms, according to the CDC. There are no vaccines to prevent or medications to treat the virus in people. While less than 1% of people infected develop serious neurological illnesses, West Nile virus can impact the brain and spinal cord, and can lead to encephalitis or meningitis.
Burks lives in the Beechmont neighborhood, an area she said has had a "really bad mosquito problem." But Burks added that she cannot remember when or where she may have been bitten. When symptoms began to appear, she had rashes crop up on her legs and body. According to Burks, it started with chills and a fever, but symptoms were gone the next morning, so she thought it was a kind of flu or summer cold. "The next day at work, I had chills and a fever and really deep body aches...it was like to the bone. I don't even remember driving home."
Read more about Burks' story, CLICK HERE
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