Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 70-year-old Slidell man died Thursday of both a stroke and West Nile virus, the St. Tammany Parish coroner said.
It's impossible to tell whether the conditions were related, Dr. Charles Preston said in a news release.
He said the man died about 3½ weeks after being admitted to a hospital with stroke symptoms, and about 2½ weeks after the West Nile diagnosis.
The virus had infected the man's nervous system, said James Hartman, spokesman for the coroner's office.
In its most recent weekly report, the Department of Health and Hospitals said that as of Sept. 26, 54 cases of West Nile virus, including two deaths, had been reported this year. It said 33 cases were dangerous infections of the brain or spinal column; seven were flu-like West Nile fever, and 14 involved no symptoms but were detected through blood tests.
Two cases had been reported in St. Tammany parish this year, both of them dangerous "neuroinvasive" infections, according to the report.
At least four other St. Tammany Parish residents have died from the virus: one in 2006 and three in 2002, the year of Louisiana's most serious outbreak, according to previous reports by The Associated Press.
State records show that 204 people had nervous system infections and 19 of them died in 2002. The state's second-worst outbreak was in 2012, with 160 dangerous neuroinvasive cases and at least 18 deaths.
West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes. Preston urged parish residents to make sure nothing in their yards can hold standing water where mosquitoes can breed, to use insect repellant, and to wear long sleeves and pants outdoors, especially at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
