LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Health Officials Warn About Encephalitis Virus
Health officials on Friday warned county residents to take precautions against the St. Louis encephalitis virus after chickens at three county test centers--in Irwindale, Monterey Park and the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles--were found to have contracted it.
The virus, which causes swelling of the brain and spinal chord, is transmitted from birds to people through bites by mosquitoes that have previously bitten infected birds, officials said. In humans, it can be deadly.
Signs have been posted in the communities where the virus was detected. Health officials said county residents should eliminate water sources where mosquitoes breed and report problems to local mosquito abatement districts.
Twenty-two cases of the virus were documented in the county between 1983 and 1986, including one death. Since then, there have been only two reported cases, one in 1989 and another last year.
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