Doctors say 37 now sick in New York virus outbreak

October 4, 1999
Web posted at: 12:23 a.m. EDT (0423 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Public health officials raised the number of reported cases to 37 on Sunday in New York's outbreak of a West Nile-like virus that is blamed for the deaths of four people.

Two other deaths outside New York City -- one in suburban Westchester County and the other in Toronto -- are now blamed on the disease. In the Canadian case, a 75-year-old man died a few days after he visited the New York borough of Queens, Canadian officials say: The case has not been confirmed by U.S. officials.

The latest case is an 81-year-old woman from Queens who has already been discharged from the hospital. Five people remain hospitalized with the virus, said Sandra Mullin, spokeswoman for the New York City health department.

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Symptoms include headache, fever and swollen glands. The virus is rarely fatal but the very old, the very young and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable.

On Friday night, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Health went door-to door in northern Queens, starting a survey to determine how widespread the virus is.

The agencies expect to collect 300 blood samples over the next two to three weeks, Mullin said.

Until recently, the virus had never been reported in the Western hemisphere.

Traps in two areas have found some mosquitoes carrying the virus. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes that typically feed off birds.