WOOD COUNTY RESIDENT MAY HAVE DIED FROM WEST NILE VIRUS - WV'S First Human Fatality

(10/03/2002)

A Wood County resident has died of what health officials suspect was the West Nile virus. The 78-year-old died September 22 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Parkersburg. If the diagnosis is confirmed by the Center for Disease Control, it will be West Virginia's first human fatality from the disease. State and county health officials have declined to release the victim's name at this time. The man was reportedly hospitalized for a week with what doctors at first thought was a mild stroke. He is the second West Virginian believed to have contracted the West Nile Virus.. Fifty-five-year-old Howard Clemens of Poca, WV became sick in August and has recovered. Samples of his blood have also been sent to the Center for Disease Control. . Mosquitoes spread West Nile from infected birds to horses and humans. The symptoms are similar to the flu. West Nile has been detected in birds and horses in at least 41 of West Virginia's 55 counties.

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