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Pennsylvania West Nile Cases Among Top In Country

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NEW ORLEANS (AP/KDKA) - Louisiana and Mississippi are leading the nation in the number of people who have become seriously ill from West Nile virus this year. State health departments are warning residents to take precautions against mosquitoes, which spread the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of Aug. 21 , Louisiana had 18 cases of West Nile encephalitis or meningitis, out of a national total of 133. Mississippi had 15 "neuroinvasive" cases, Texas 14 and California 12.

South Dakota had nine, Iowa seven, Nebraska six and Alabama and Pennsylvania five each.

In July, the Allegheny County Health Department says a Penn Hills resident in his early 70s was bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile Virus in mid-July. He began exhibiting symptoms of the infection and was hospitalized. This summer mosquitoes that were captured in Wind Gap and the North Side both tested positive for carrying high levels of the West Nile Virus.

Related Story: Pennsylvania's First Human Case Of West Nile Virus This Year Reported In Allegheny County

CDC figures lag behind state reports. Louisiana reports there have been 31 residents with dangerous nervous system infections and 13 cases of flu-like West Nile fever. Mississippi has reported 25 total cases .

Louisiana's state epidemiologist says the number of cases depends on local factors.

(TM and © Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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