Craig Beard, MT-Victim

Powell man first victim of West Nile in state

A 53-year-old Powell man died Oct. 4 in a Billings hospital of encephalitis derived from the West Nile virus.

The victim was Craig Baird.

”He was imuneocompromised,“ said Kelly Weidebach of Cheyenne, surveillance epidemiologist for the Wyoming Department of Health.

Barid's wife was quoted in press accounts saying her husband recently had a kidney transplant.

Weidenbach said the death was the first this year in Wyoming attributed to West Nile virus.

The incident was the seventh case of the illness confirmed in the state in 2005, she added.

The other victims all are recovering, although some still show symptoms, she added.

They are from Sheridan, Natrona, Goshen, Weston and Campbell counties.

Weidenbach said Park County residents have little to fear from West Nile virus at this time of the year.

”Since the weather has been getting colder, we feel this is the end of the West Nile season,“ she said.

Incubation of the disease usually is 3-14 days from the time an infected mosquito bites a victim, she added. That means Baird likely contracted the illness about Sept. 20, and probably in Park County.

Mosquitoes ”generally die off once we've had our first freeze“ or snowfall, she said.

”The risk is low“ at this late point in the season, which peaks in late July or in August.

Even among those bitten by infected mosquitoes, West Nile virus causes neurological invasive illness in less than one percent of victims, Weidenbach added.

Eighty percent of victims experience no symptoms at all, she said.

Since 2002, when West Nile virus first appeared in Wyoming, there have been 10 human deaths, counting Baird, Weidenbach said.

In 2002 there were two human cases and no deaths; in 2003 there were 393 cases and nine human deaths; in 2004 there were 10 cases; and this year there have been seven cases and one death.

To learn more about West Nile virus and how to prevent it, visit www.badskeeter.com.