West Nile suspected as city woman stricken

Daniel Walker
Coffeyville Journal

COFFEYVILLE, Kan.— A Coffeyville woman is in critical condition suffering from what is believed to be the West Nile Virus.
According to family members, 44-year-old Mary Westmoreland began suffering spasms three weeks ago and was rushed to Coffeyville Regional Medical Center where she lapsed into a two-week-long coma. She was transferred to Freeman Hospital, in Joplin, Mo., where test results came back positive for West Nile on Monday.
A spokeswoman for Freeman Hospital confirmed that Westmoreland is in the hospital's ICU in critical condition. Westmoreland's sister, Michelle Bishop, said she remains on a ventilator, is paralyzed from the neck down, but has come out of her coma. "It really doesn't look very good," Bishop said. "It's worse than cancer, at least they can treat you for cancer. There's no medicine for West Nile."
Westmoreland lives in an apartment on Coffeyville's east side, a block from where flooding a month ago left large amounts of standing water in abandoned lots and homes. Center for Disease Control sponsored mosquito traps placed near there on July 25 at Fifth and Pine St. resulted in the capture of 18 mosquitoes that tested positive as West Nile virus carriers. Those mosquitoes– culex pipiens– breed in standing water, like water polluted with organic or waste material and are not good flyers- meaning that they stay close to where they originated. Three other mosquito monitoring stations in Coffeyville revealed no West Nile present.
Symptoms usually develop within 3 to 15 days but Bishop said that her sister's illness appeared to begin hours after a mosquito bite. "She was suffering spasms and her boyfriend took her to the hospital that night. That's where I showed up. I thought she was having a stroke, the way her hands were clenching up. They couldn't find out what was wrong, so they sent her to Joplin. It took them three weeks to test for West Nile. I don't know why they tested for West Nile last, but everyone needs to know that it's here and people are getting it."
Joe Blubaugh, spokesman with the Kansas Department of Health, said he could not confirm or deny the case was West Nile but stated that his department was aware of suspected cases in southeast Kansas. Citing privacy issues, he said he could not state which counties the cases were located. "I can't confirm if this particular person has the virus. There are suspect cases, but nothing confirmed," Blubaugh said. "There are times when it's diagnosed locally, or if it was just diagnosed, we wouldn't have that information. But it wouldn't be surprising."
Blubaugh said that West Nile prevention needs to be dealt with by everyone. "The best way to prevent it is on a personal level, it doesn't take much water for a large number of mosquitoes to reproduce. It's hard for the community as a whole to deal with things like a spare tire in a tree," he explained. "People need to take care of their own property- and help their neighbors, the elderly or infirmed that can't. If there's standing water, pour larvacide in it. Wear long sleeves, especially early in the morning and at dusk."
Symptoms may include skin rash, headache, fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, backache, muscle aches, lack of appetite and swollen glands. Anyone with severe symptoms should contact a doctor.