State Confirms First West Nile Virus Death

Maryland reports 13 cases of the mosquito-borne virus so far in 2012.

One Maryland resident has died as a result of West Nile Virus, according to state health department officials. Dori Henry, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Thursday confirmed the death of one adult. The age, gender and county where the victim lived are not being released because of privacy reasons, Henry said. So far, Maryland has reported 13 cases of the virus this year. Nearly 1,600 cases have been reported in 48 states. About 70 percent of those cases come from Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Michigan—45 percent along were in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those cases, 66 people have died as of Aug. 28. It is not clear if the Maryland …

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Centered on Your Health

Vaccines are Key to Good Health

The recent measles outbreak has returned the importance of vaccines to the limelight. Dr. Tia Raglan Medley, pediatrician at Franklin Square Hospital Center, explains why vaccines are important.

Polio, diphtheria, measles – they’re all diseases of the past, right? Wrong. So far this year, 156 confirmed cases of measles have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—triple that of the previous year. In Europe, Africa and Asia, it’s much worse. The majority of U.S. cases were people who had traveled abroad and had not been vaccinated against the disease; half of them ended up in the hospital. Measles is a highly contagious respiratory infection that can cause fever, runny nose, coughing and sneezing, watery red eyes and rashes of small flat spots. Like a common cold, it’s spread very easily through the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs, and it can linger in the air or on surfaces for up to …

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