Wendy Payton, CA

West Nile victim fears more cases on horizon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T


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Dave Moller, davem@theunion.com
September 24, 2005

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A Penn Valley woman who is the third person to get West Nile virus in Nevada County this year thinks there could easily be more cases.

Her opinion was backed up Friday by Dr. Brent Packer, the county health officer, who said the good news was that the season is waning for the mosquitoes that carry the virus. However, "I expect there are more (cases) in the pipeline," Packer said.

Wendy Payton, 53, said she was bit by several mosquitoes Aug. 27 while watching her son play soccer on a soggy field in Marysville next to a stream. Payton showed none of the classic symptoms the week after, which include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash and bodyaches that come on from three to 14 days after a bite.

But on Sept. 4, she woke up with body aches like those she has experienced during other illnesses. This time there was no other sickness involved until Sept. 8, when she woke up, "and my stomach felt weird."

Payton vomited while on her job as a teacher at Bear River High School and decided to visit the emergency room at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley. She suspected West Nile because of the mosquito bites but still had no fever, headache or rash.

She asked for a West Nile test at the hospital, but was told it was unnecessary because she lacked the symptoms.

"The very next day the rash popped up and got bad that weekend," she said. You can still see it on her arms and legs, although the California Department of Health Services said it usually shows up on the trunk of victims.

Payton said she called the hospital on Saturday, Sept. 10, and was told her symptoms did not call for a West Nile test. She called her doctor the next day and was transferred to a physician covering for him, who said no test was warranted.

On Sept. 12, she went to her doctor, who ordered a test for West Nile from the hospital. On Sept. 20, he called to tell her she was positive for West Nile.

"This week I felt a little fuzzy-headed and stiff but now I feel better," Payton said. "I bet there's people out there who feel achy that don't equate it with West Nile."

Payton said she was not upset with anyone at the hospital and had been treated with courtesy throughout. She said with only three human West Nile cases in the county this year, she could understand if physicians are not looking close for the virus, "but it was hard to get a test."

Dr. Joseph Britton is the medical director for the emergency room at SNMH and said flu-like symptoms from West Nile would not necessarily call for a test to find it.

"We don't often test for it because it doesn't change our treatment, because there is no medicine for it," Britton said. "We treat the symptoms and if they persist, we tell them to call their primary care doctor, who would order the test."


However, Britton said those with acute symptoms for West Nile like convulsions, vision loss, high fever, disorientation or tremors should not hesitate to come to the emergency room. Payton did not have those symptoms.

Packer said Payton's body aches, nausea and vomiting might have been enough for some physicians to order a West Nile test right away, while others would have made a different judgment.

"The nausea and vomiting goes with a million other things as well," Packer said. "Sometimes it's a judgment call and you're wrong." But Packer predicted area doctors might be quicker to order West Nile tests now after hearing about Payton's case.

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To contact senior staff writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@theunion.com or call 477-4237.