Tests show LA County woman had West Nile virus

LOS ANGELES - Health officials are baffled by how a Los Angeles County woman apparently became the first case of a person contracting West Nile virus in the western United States. <br> <br> The woman tested positive for the illness in preliminary laboratory results, state health officials said Friday. <br> <br> The results of further tests will not be known for another week. However, county health officials were calling it a ``probable case of locally acquired West Nile virus infection.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``The virus&#39; arrival in California is anticipated, but unexpected at this time since it is not present in any contiguous states,&#39;&#39; said Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director and chief medical officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. <br> <br> The woman had a mild case of meningitis, which is associated with the virus, in early August and later recovered. <br> <br> The unidentified woman had not traveled outside the region, meaning the infection, if confirmed, occurred locally, county Department of Health Services spokeswoman Maria Iacobo said. Officials provided no further information about the woman, including her age or where in the county she lives. <br> <br> Since West Nile was first detected in New York in 1999, the virus has been found in humans in 27 other states and the District of Columbia. <br> <br> While its push westward had been expected, there have been no confirmed cases of humans contracting the disease west of the Rocky Mountains. <br> <br> In two other cases of confirmed or suspected West Nile virus along the Pacific coast, the victims are thought to have been infected in states where the mosquito-borne virus is already known to be present. <br> <br> In Oregon, doctors in Salem are treating a woman who also has symptoms consistent with West Nile and became sick in Michigan. <br> <br> A Washington man was diagnosed with the virus, which health officials said he contracted in Louisiana. <br> <br> Nationwide this year, there have been 954 confirmed human cases of the virus, including 43 deaths, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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