Lyme, West Nile, Influenza All On Newtown Health District’s Radar

By John Voket

The Newtown Regional Health District is up-shifting heading into fall as the threat of Lyme disease and West Nile virus stubbornly bows to the next big strain of influenza, just as New England’s foliage begins its annual transformation.

The changing season may prompt birds to begin preparing to migrate southward, but Dr Eva Sapi from the University of New Haven will head north to Newtown in the coming days to conduct her second annual tick canvass. Last year, Dr Sapi took tick samples three different areas in town, to collect ticks and test for the spirochetes that cause Lyme, as well as for Babesia, Newtown Regional Health Director Donna Culbert told The Newtown Bee.

Although results from last year’s sampling at three sites did produce infectivity rates that ranged from an alarming 60 to 70 percent positive for Lyme, the health director said those statistics can be somewhat misleading.

“I feel the need to be cautious in leading people to believe that the entire town has a tick infectivity rate of 60 to 70 percent positive,” she said. “Because we did not sample the entire town and therefore, we cannot reasonably draw that conclusion.”

At the same time, Ms Culbert, who has suffered the effects from multiple bouts with Lyme disease herself, said she does not problem agreeing with the concern and anxiety that accompanies a 60–70 positive rate.

“That’s because these areas [where the 2007 tick samples were collected] are frequented by our residents, and we should all be aware and concerned that a tick that can bite us could very well be positive,” Ms Culbert said. “I would expect that ticks collected in a confined area could have a high or low infectivity rate.”

Ms Culbert said depending on the reservoirs of living hosts like mice, other rodents, birds, and especially deer that ticks are feeding on, if the reservoirs in the collection areas are positive, “then the ticks will be too,” she added. “It’s a vicious cycle.”

As warm weather continues into fall, Ms Culbert’s concerns seem to increase in diametric opposition to Newtowners who head out for an autumnal hike, or dig into fall cleanup chores ignoring precautions against attracting ticks, and possibly contracting Lyme.

“Although the data for Connecticut is not finalized yet, we can reasonably believe that thousands of Connecticut residents have been infected with Lyme disease, babesiosis, and/or ehrlichiosis this year,” Ms Culbert said. “More than 3,200 residents were diagnosed with tick-borne disease in 2007. And I know from personal experience that the effects of tick borne disease can range from mild to severe to devastating.”

West Nile Waning?

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are preliminarily reporting the 2008 West Nile virus season is on track to be the mildest in seven years, Ms Culbert is still justifiably worried. The soggy end to summer has bloated pumpkin crops, and created plenty of new and fertile breeding grounds for mosquito larvae that quickly grow to spread the West Nile virus.

There were 368 severe cases, with 18 deaths, according to preliminary reports. Mississippi and California were hardest hit, together accounting for nearly half the cases.

Here in Connecticut, positive mosquitoes have been identified in 23 towns — Branford, Bridgeport, Darien, East Haven, Fairfield, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Hamden, Hartford, Milford, Monroe, New Canaan, New Haven, Norwalk, Shelton, South Windsor, Stamford, Stonington, Stratford, West Haven, Westport, Wethersfield, and Wilton.

“If they tested positive in Monroe, it’s a safe bet that here in Newtown, we have positive mosquitoes,” she said.

It is not clear why this season has been so mild, said officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has logged the fewest cases since 2001, when the mosquito-borne virus was still emerging in the United States and was only reported in ten states.

West Nile virus was first reported in the United States in 1999 in New York, but then the disease gradually spread across the country. About one in five infected people get sick, and one in 150 will develop severe symptoms including neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, and paralysis.

For all of 2007, more than 1,200 cases of severe West Nile illness were reported nationally, contributing to 124 deaths. The peak of West Nile outbreaks occurred in 2002 and 2003, when severe illnesses numbered nearly 3,000 and deaths surpassed 260.

But so far in 2008, there were less than a third the number of serious cases as last year’s total, US health officials said. That mirrors the statewide profile.

“Only two state residents that have been diagnosed with West Nile so far this year,” Ms Culbert said.

Don’t Forget The Flu

Just about everybody needs a flu vaccine — unless you are an infant or a healthy adult hermit — but far too few of the Americans who need protection the most get it. That is the message as flu-shot season officially began this week with a call for a record number to be inoculated — including 30 million more school-age children than ever before.

“Get out there and get protected and protect others and for sure protect your children,” said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“People should start getting vaccinated now, yesterday actually,” added Dr William Schaffner, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

There is ample supply: 143 million to 146 million doses, more than ever before manufactured. In Newtown, and throughout the immediate region, Ms Culbert said there is no reason for anyone eligible to go without the inoculation this year, as dozens of flu shot clinics have been scheduled, from big box pharmacies to the senior center.

“Even private companies are lining up inoculations their employees can get on their coffee breaks,” the health director observed.

According to an Associated Press report, the flu still kills about 36,000 Americans a year, and hospitalizes about 200,000. But curiously, when you add up everyone the CDC recommends get vaccinated — 261 million Americans now qualify — it is evident many still apparently avoid the shot.

Last year, just 113 million of 140 million doses produced were used — spurring a bid for new ways, from inoculations at schools to voting booths, to spread the advice. For the first time in 2008, the CDC is advising that every child age 6 months to 18 years be inoculated, unless they have a serious egg allergy.

Until now, flu vaccine was recommended only for children under 5 and those with chronic health problems like asthma — the youngsters most likely to be hospitalized.

Why the change? Healthy school-age children actually have higher rates of flu than other age groups, and research increasingly shows they spread it to the rest of us. Worse, seemingly healthy children of any age can die from the flu — 86 last year, from babies to teens.

Parents may need to schedule an appointment early: Any child under 9 who has being vaccinated for the first time will need two doses, a month apart. A single dose suffices for everyone else.

The CDC released disappointing counts this week on how many people at highest risk from influenza get vaccinated —including just 72 percent of those age 65 and older, even though Medicare offers them free shots.

Roughly one in five children under 2 got vaccinated during the 2006-07 season, the latest data available. And just 35 percent of young adults at high risk because of chronic illnesses, such as asthma or heart conditions, comply.

Also on CDC’s get-vaccinated list: Anyone 50 or older; health care workers; caregivers and relatives of the high-risk; and pregnant women. Newborns cannot be vaccinated, but a fetus does absorb protection from a vaccinated mother.

Perhaps most stunning, just 42 percent of health care workers get vaccinated, people who could be infecting patients in doctors’ offices and hospitals. CDC’s Dr Gerberding called it “unconscionable” for health workers to avoid vaccination: “This is a patient safety issue.”

For more information on how to protect yourself and your family from Lyme, West Nile, and this year’s strains of influenza, visit or contact the Newtown Regional Health District at 270-4291.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.