BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State health officials report 11 new cases of West Nile virus this week, with one additional West Nile-related death.
That brings the total number of West Nile cases in Louisiana this year to 382, with a death toll of 17.
Most people bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus show no symptoms, but some develop flu-like West Nile fever, and a few develop serious "neuroinvasive" infections of the brain or spinal cord that can lead to paralysis, brain damage or death.
Four new neuroinvasive disease cases were reported this week were in Bossier, Calcasieu, St. Helena and Winn parishes. Five West Nile fever cases were in Bossier, Cameron, Concordia, East Feliciana and Orleans parishes. Two asymptomatic cases were in Grant and Pointe Coupee parishes.
