Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: November 25, 2003
Contact: Robert J. Marshall PhD 222-1017

Rhode Island Man Dies from West Nile Virus

Today, the RI Department of Health confirmed the state’s first death from West Nile Virus (WNV). The patient, a male, senior adult from Providence County, was discharged from the hospital on November 7, 2003 and entered hospice care. The illness was first reported on October 5, 2003 and resulted from exposure to WNV-infected mosquitoes in late September. HEALTH reported this human case of WNV on October 15, 2003. The death from meningo-encephalitis (viral infection of the brain and surrounding tissue) occurred on Friday, November 21, 2003.

Rhode Island reported a total of seven confirmed human WNV cases (1 in 2002; 6 in 2003) but no previous deaths since the illness was first discovered in the US in 1999. During the 2003 season, the National Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) reported 8470 human cases and 189 deaths from WNV nationwide.

The RI mosquito-biting season ended on November 1, 2003 and no further human cases have been reported.

For more information about WNV go to the public health website at www.HEALTH.ri.gov.