San Francisco Man Contracts West Nile Virus
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Public health officials in San Francisco are reporting the city's first human case of West Nile virus caused by mosquito bite.
The man was hospitalized late last month and is now home recovering. It's believed he contracted the disease locally, as he has not traveled outside the Bay Area.
KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:
Disease Control officials tried to track his movements to see where he might have come in contact with the mosquito, but there's no way to tell if he got it in San Francisco or elsewhere in the Bay Area.
West Nile cases are on the rise in California. As of this week, the state has recorded 165 cases and eight people have died.
"The most severe case is when they get encephalitis or swelling of the brain. That actually is rare," said San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon. "Out of 150 people who are bitten and infected by a mosquito, only 1 out of 150 will develop the neurological condition."
But the San Francisco patient did develop encephalitis, so he sent out an advisory to local doctors to keep West Nile on their radars.
San Francisco has seen one other human case in 2010. That person was infected through an organ transplant.
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