Eight West Nile Cases Reported in City, Similar to Level in 2011

By CHRIS PALMER

During a summer in which West Nile virus has jumped to record levels nationwide, eight city residents have contracted the mosquito-borne illness - a similar level to the number infected by this time last year, according to the city's health department.

On Monday, the city added one case of West Nile fever in Brooklyn to its tally, along with a case in Brooklyn in which a blood donor's blood was found to be carrying the virus, according to Anne-Katrin Titze, a parks advocate in Brooklyn who monitors the health department's Web site. The health department would not say when the cases were added.

Of the eight city residents, spread across all five boroughs, in whom West Nile fever or the more serious West Nile neuroinvasive disease were diagnosed, five were male and three were female, the city said; the city would not disclose their ages.

Last year, there were 11 human cases of West Ni le citywide, down from 42 cases in 2010, according to city figures. Since the disease was first detected here in 1999, the number of cases in the city has ranged from a high of 47 in 1999 to a low of 3 in 2009.

At least six state residents outside the city have been infected this year, according to the state's Health Department, and two of them â€" both elderly people from Long Island â€" have died. Last year, there were 33 cases in state residents outside the city, one of them fatal.

West Nile is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes; symptoms typically include fevers, headaches or stomach pain, which generally pass after a few days. The virus can be fatal for those with weaker immune systems, particularly the elderly.

Nationwide, more than 1,100 human infections and 41 deaths have been recorded this year. Federal health officials said last week that 2012 was on pace to be the worst outbreak of the disease since its arrival on the continent 13 yea rs ago.

As in past years, New York City has been spraying insecticide across neighborhoods since June. On Tuesday, the city was scheduled to spray the southeastern Bronx and northern Queens near Long Island Sound.