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SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
FOR RELEASE: September 5, 2003
CONTACT: Doneen Hollingsworth
West Nile cases increase; additional death reported
PIERRE – The Department of Health reported the state’s fifth West Nile virus death today. Secretary of Health Doneen Hollingsworth said a Shannon County resident in the 30 to 40 year-old age group died August 23 at the Pine Ridge Hospital. To protect patient confidentiality, additional information about the deceased individual is not being released.
The Department of Health also reported 41 new human West Nile virus disease cases today and urged people to protect themselves as the disease continues to spread. Lincoln County reports its first human WNV case. Sixty-two of South Dakota’s 66 counties now have human West Nile cases. The state’s total number of human cases is now 451 and there have been a total of 5 deaths, for this transmission season. Counties with the highest number of cases include Pennington (70), Brown (26), Hughes (20), Dewey (16), Minnehaha (16), Butte (15), Fall River (14), Meade (14), Charles Mix (13), Clay (11), and Shannon (10). The deaths have occurred in Clay, Meade, Pennington (2) and Shannon Counties.
Twenty-five percent of South Dakota cases with a known diagnosis have been reported with meningoencephalitis, 75 percent with West Nile fever. One percent of the cases have developed acute flaccid paralysis syndrome associated with WNV infection. Diagnosis is still pending on some cases. The male-female rate is 50% each. The median age is 46 years and the ages range from 4 months to 92 years. The elderly are at greatest risk of meningoencephalitis, the most severe form of WNV disease; 59% of the cases are over 50.
There have also been 47 asymptomatic individuals detected through routine screening of blood donations since July 1. In addition, there have been 64 clinically ill horses reported with WNV equine disease, 119 WNV positive birds and 2 sick dogs.
SUMMARY OF SOUTH DAKOTA HUMAN WEST NILE VIRUS CASES BY COUNTY,
5 September 2003
County | WNV disease cases | Blood Donors | Deaths |
| County | WNV disease cases | Blood Donors | Deaths |
Aurora | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jackson | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Beadle | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Jerauld | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Bennett | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Jones | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Bon Homme | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Kingsbury | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Brookings | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Lake | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Brown | 26 | 6 | 0 |
| Lawrence | 9 | 1 | 0 |
Brule | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Lincoln | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Buffalo | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Lyman | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Butte | 15 | 4 | 0 |
| Marshall | 7 | 1 | 0 |
Campbell | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| McCook | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Charles Mix | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| McPherson | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Clark | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Meade | 14 | 0 | 1 |
Clay | 11 | 1 | 1 |
| Mellette | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Codington | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Miner | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Corson | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnehaha | 16 | 2 | 0 |
Custer | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Moody | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Davison | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| Pennington | 70 | 15 | 2 |
Day | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Perkins | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Deuel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Potter | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Dewey | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Roberts | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Douglas | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Sanborn | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Edmunds | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Shannon | 10 | 0 | 1 |
Fall River | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Spink | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Faulk | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Stanley | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Grant | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sully | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Gregory | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Todd | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Haakon | 4 |