CDC: Most West Nile Virus infections found in older men

ATLANTA - Government health officials reported Thursday that most people diagnosed this year with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus have been men and about 55 years old. <br> <br> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 112 human cases in 2002, more than half confirmed since July 31. <br> <br> All of this year&#39;s human infections were found in four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Illinois. Five people have died, all of them in Louisiana. <br> <br> Another human case was announced Wednesday in Alabama, but it was not included in the CDC report. <br> <br> Human infections in 2002 occurred more often in men, who made up 60 percent of the cases for which the CDC had data. The median age was 55. The disease is more likely to appear in older people and those with weak immune systems. <br> <br> The virus has been detected in 34 states and Washington, D.C. Nearly every state east of the Rocky Mountains has discovered the virus in dead birds, from Maine to North Dakota and south to Texas. The disease was first detected in New York in 1999 and has since spread south and west. <br> <br> Most people bitten by an infected mosquito will not become noticeably ill, but some develop flu-like symptoms, and the weak and the elderly can get encephalitis, a potentially fatal brain infection. State and local officials have boosted mosquito-spraying efforts and urged people to protect themselves against the insects.