ncc /West nile causes paralysis in some .

[Guest guest]

Greetings all ...I'm posting this not to encourage fear at all ..but because

this new finding West Nile can also cause paralysis / and the possiblity it

could be confused with chiari /sm symtpoms as well as Gillian Barr .

If anyone amongst us exibits unusual paralysis I'd sure want to remind my

physicians this could also be the source . ..I plan to print it - and put it

in my " chiari notebook " I keep to help show /explain to new to me

physicians what I've got going in a combo of health concerns ...but then NOT

fret over the possiblity I'd actually get West Nile . The likelyhood

statistically just isn't there to justify freting !! ( However if your in a

state /area heavily impacted - this precaution may be worthwhile and helpful

too . )

By KRISTEN WYATT

..c The Associated Press

ATLANTA (Sept. 20) - Government health officials are warning doctors that the

West Nile virus can cause acute paralysis after the mosquito-borne virus

apparently caused six people to become paralyzed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors to test patients

for West Nile if they report sudden, painless paralysis but do not appear to

have had a stroke.

The warning came as health officials confirmed that the West Nile virus can

apparently be transmitted through blood transfusions and said that all blood

donations will probably be screened for the virus as soon as a test can be

developed.

The most serious effect of infection - life-threatening brain inflammation -

occurs in only a small percentage of cases, mostly among the sick or elderly.

But most of the reported paralyses, in Mississippi and Louisiana, have

occurred among middle-aged people who were previously healthy, CDC medical

epidemiologist Jim Sejvar said.

Some of these victims lost the use of an arm or leg; others needed

ventilators to help them breathe.

A CDC report said the symptoms can be confused with a condition known as

Guillain-Barre syndrome. There is no known way to prevent West Nile

paralysis, but Sejvar said treatments for Guillain-Barre syndrome may be

harmful to patients who actually have West Nile.

Health officials also suggested Thursday that the virus can survive in

donated blood for days.

A woman in Mississippi caught West Nile after receiving transfusions from

three infected donors. CDC doctors called that case ``highly suspicious'' and

said that West Nile ``probably can be spread by transfusion.''

Previously, doctors were not sure whether it was possible to spread West Nile

through blood, although a Georgia case in which donated organs spread the

virus to four recipients in August raised that possibility.

Dr. Goodman of the Food and Drug Administration said that all blood

donations will probably be screened for the virus as soon as a test can be

developed. He could not predict how long it would take to develop such a test

or how much it would cost.

``What we're trying to do here is jump-start this process,'' he said.

But screening for the virus could prove difficult. West Nile is much harder

to detect than a virus such as HIV because there are relatively small amounts

of West Nile in tainted blood.

Furthermore, a screening would have to detect the virus itself - not just

antibodies the body produces in response - because the virus spends several

days in the blood stream before symptoms show up.

Blood banks said they expected the FDA's announcement. Dr. Louis Katz,

president-elect of industry group America's Blood Centers, said the important

question is not whether West Nile can be transmitted through blood, because

it probably can, but whether it's a threat big enough to warrant testing all

donations for it.

``Does it rise to the level of appropriate screening? That's what we have to

figure out,'' Katz said, adding that some diseases known to be spread through

transfusion aren't screened because they're so rare.

West Nile was first detected in the United States just three years ago. The

CDC has reported more than 1,700 human cases of West Nile virus so far this

year, including 84 deaths.

Most people who become infected with the virus suffer no ill effects at all;

others develop only flu-like symptoms.

Researchers also point out that not all patients who receive tainted blood

will become infected with West Nile. The CDC reported a July case in which a

55-year-old woman received contaminated blood after an orthopedic procedure

but never tested positive for the virus.

While repeating that the benefits of blood transfusions far outweigh the

risks of catching West Nile, Goodman said patients seeking elective surgery

may want to talk with their doctors about delaying the procedure or donating

their own blood to be used later on themselves.

09/20/02 04:12 EDT

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I live in Illinois where the rate of this is climbing quite fast. 33 new

cases yesterday. There are some that I know that have had West Nile. Most run

a fever and have a headache. Since I have chiari I would wonder which was

which.

Thank you for pointing that out as I was thinking the same thing

yesterday. I ran a fever last Monday and had NO symptoms at all. Strange huh?

They found 2 dead birds with it on our block a few weeks ago.

ACM 27mm

Syrinx-no surgery