Viral Outbreak Waning in N.Y., CDC Reports

Fifty people have probably been infected with the so-called West Nile-like virus in New York, but the outbreak is waning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The CDC said that as of Tuesday 27 cases had been confirmed and 23 deemed probable in laboratory tests. Five people have died of the virus, which is carried by mosquitoes.

No one became ill after Sept. 17, the CDC said. Cases were reported in all New York City boroughs except Staten Island, as well as the adjacent counties of Westchester and Nassau.

The outbreak, previously believed to be St. Louis encephalitis, caught the attention of New York City health officials in August. They sprayed the entire city of 7 million people with insecticide in early September to try to kill mosquitoes.

West Nile-like virus, never previously diagnosed in the Western hemisphere, is spread from birds to mosquitoes to humans. Scientists cannot say how it reached the U.S., although it has been seen in Africa and Asia.

The CDC confirmed it had found the virus in crows, domestic birds and exotic pet birds in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

“As a result, CDC, state wildlife veterinarians and an expanding group of federal agencies are using deaths in crows as sentinel events to define the current geographic distribution of mosquitoes and birds infected with WNLV,” the CDC said in a statement.

“No human cases of encephalitis attributable to WNLV have been reported from either Connecticut or New Jersey,” it added.

The CDC said the pesticide spraying should control the outbreak.

It also noted that cooler weather should help reduce mosquito activity.

The CDC said officials will have to remain vigilant about the virus for several years.