Md. Has First West Nile Death

Maryland reported its first death from West Nile virus Friday, and Nebraska officials said they also may have seen their first fatality.

Ten other states have reported deaths from the mosquito-borne disease this summer, as it spread across most of the Lower 48 states.

Elsie C. Karo, 87, of Bethesda died Tuesday at the Hospice of Washington after being hospitalized with encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. She tested positive for the virus, health officials said.

In Nebraska, initial tests show a 69-year-old man who died Aug. 22 had the virus, said Steve Beal, assistant health director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department. Officials were waiting for confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, he said.

Both the Nebraska and Maryland victims had other health problems, officials said.

As of Friday, the CDC had recorded 555 human cases, including 28 fatalities, of West Nile this year in 26 states and Washington, D.C. Including animal cases, the virus has been seen in 41 states.

Two states Friday reported their first human cases of the disease. A 30-year-old woman in South Carolina was recovering, but a Connecticut man in his 70s was hospitalized in serious condition, officials said.

West Nile appeared in the United States in 1999, when a New York outbreak killed seven people and infected 62.

Most people bitten by an infected mosquito never get sick, and most of the rest see only symptoms similar to the flu. A small percentage of people contract encephalitis, a potentially fatal infection of the brain.