Growing anxiety in Israel as West Nile virus claims eighth victim

JERUSALEM - Anxiety in Israel was growing yesterday after the West Nile virus killed an eighth victim this summer, and hospital emergency rooms were crowded with people who feared they had contracted the mosquito-borne disease.

In two dozen towns in Israel's hardest hit coastal plain, residents closed their windows this week as machines belched forth clouds of insecticide mixed with diesel oil to wipe out the mosquitoes.

In southern Israel, 3,300 geese were destroyed at a farm after some of the birds died of the disease. There were minor outbreaks among geese at other farms but no wholesale slaughter.

Most flocks have been vaccinated against the virus, said Dr. Oded Nir, chief veterinarian at the Ministry of Agriculture. ''This is not like last year's outbreak of the virus in New York where they had crows falling out of the sky,'' Nir said.

There was little chance the outbreaks in New York and Israel were connected, officials said. The virus was probably brought to Israel by wild birds migrating from Europe to Africa, said Dr. Alex Leventhal, the Health Ministry's director of public health.

Concerned by the cases in Israel, neighboring Jordan asked hospitals and clinics throughout the kingdom to notify the Health Ministry if any cases were detected.

Eight people in Israel have died this summer, and 120 more have contracted the disease. The latest victim was Nurit Gurwitz, 54, from Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, who was hospitalized two weeks ago and died Wednesday.

Gurwitz' family was only informed a few hours before her death that she had contracted the illness, said her husband, Shlomo, suggesting that his wife did not received the proper treatment from the start. The hospital denied the allegations.

In a sign of growing anxiety, hospital emergency rooms were crowded with people with mild influenza who thought they had the West Nile virus, which can be deadly for patients with a weak immune system.

''We calm them down and send them home, but more keep coming,'' said Dr. Motte Ravid, director of internal medicine at a hospital in Kfar Sava.

Most cases were diagnosed in Israel's coastal plain, where many migratory birds rest after long flights. None were in Jerusalem, which is in the hills. ''The birds don't stop in Jerusalem and there are fewer mosquitoes there,'' Leventhal said.

He said the number of cases does not in itself constitute an epidemic, but that nobody could tell how many mild or undetected cases there were. ''It could be the tip of the iceberg,'' he said.

The virus has been known in Israel for decades. Outbreaks were recorded among Israeli soldiers in the 1950s and 1980s. Fifteen percent of Israelis have antibodies against the virus, indicating they had it in the past. All the wild birds tested in Israel's national parks carry the antibodies, Leventhal said.

West Nile virus was first identified in the West Nile District of Uganda in 1937 and is present in East Africa, southwest Asia and Europe. In humans, it can cause fatal encephalitis - an inflammation of the spinal cord and brain.

Last year, the first U.S. case of West Nile virus was reported in late August, and a total of seven people in the New York City area died and 62 were infected. There have been no deaths in the United States this year.

The Israeli Health Ministry has urged local authorities to spray stagnant water, drains and sewers with insecticide and asked the public to use insect repellent.