San Joaquin woman contracts severe, brain-infecting form of West Nile

(TRACY) A Tracy-area woman is battling a severe, brain-infecting form of West Nile fever.

She's the fourth Californian to be diagnosed with West Nile virus this year, and the first in San Joaquin County.

San Joaquin County Health Officer Karen Furst from the county's West Nile task force said the woman is "doing fine." She had neurological symptoms of the more severe form of the disease, which can lead to meningitis and encephalitis, she said.

Symptoms of this severe form of the disease include stiff neck, confusion, coma, convulsions, muscle weakness, numbness and paralysis, according to the task force, although it's not clear which symptoms the infected woman experienced.

About one in five people infected with the virus show symptoms including headache, fever and fatigue, and about one in 150 are struck with its severe form, according to the task force.

Furst refused to confirm whether the south San Joaquin County woman lived in Tracy, but the virus this year was found earlier and in far more dead birds in Tracy than anywhere else in the county.

The task force will again target Tracy with mosquito control efforts Friday, said Aaron Devencenzi of the Vector Control District.

Tracy has received the lion's share of the county's insecticide over the past week after infected mosquitoes were found near the Tracy Cemetery, he said.

Devencenzi asked people to report dead birds, which don't spread the disease, to help the task force track the spread of West Nile. He also asked people to protect themselves against mosquito bites and to report swarms of mosquitoes.

Furst said horses are vulnerable to the disease and should be vaccinated.

A horse diagnosed with the virus in Tulare County was the first infected horse reported in California this year.

In 2005, 19 of the 935 Californians diagnosed with West Nile died.

Contact reporter John Upton at jupton@tracypress.com.

First published: Thursday, July 20, 2006