Louisiana logs 31 new West Nile cases, one more death

Louisiana’s health department reported 31 new West Nile virus infections on Friday and one new death. None of the new cases in the reporting period — Aug. 24 throgh Thursday — is related toHurricane Isaac, the department said in a statement, because the infections occurred before the storm struck last week.

Ten to 14 days can elapse between infection and the onset of symptoms of virus-related illnesses, state epidemiologist Raoult Ratard said. And even more time can go by before an infected person seeks medical help and undergoes testing to determine whether infection has occurred. If infection is confirmed, more time is needed to report it to the state.

 

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