Daily News Wire Service
Article Last Updated: 08/20/2008 05:11:04 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- A record number of mosquito samples taken this week in
California tested positive for West Nile virus, which has infected 25
Angelenos so far this year, state officials said today.

Periodic sampling of statewide mosquito populations found 195 samples
infected with the virus, compared to the previous, pre-2008 weekly
record high of 151 reported on July 22, 2005, according to California
Department of Public Health statistics.

The test results serve as an indicator of how hard the virus is hitting
the state, according to Susanne Kluh, scientific technical services
director for the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District, who
added that the height of West Nile virus season in California is near.

"The most activity we see is in August and September," Kluh said.

Cooler fall temperatures will hinder the virus' ability to multiply in
infected mosquitoes, making it more difficult to spread to larger
animals, she said.

Despite health experts' warnings that 2008 is shaping up to be a
virulent year, only 78 cases of West Nile in humans have been reported
statewide, compared to 120 by this time last year, and 168 by this time
in 2004, which was considered to be the worst year for West Nile virus
in Southern California.

The disease is hitting the Southland especially hard, however.
Twenty-five of this year's cases have been from Los Angeles County,
compared to four by this time last year.

Kluh said she suspected that the low numbers of reported cases had more
to do with the virus going undetected in infected people.

"Human cases, as we see them, may not be the complete picture," she
said. "They're what public awareness allows us to see."

Roughly 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus show no
symptoms of the disease, while about 20 percent show mild symptoms that
may include fever, headache, body aches, nausea and vomiting -- things
that are sometimes chalked up as a simple "summer fever," Kluh said.

About one out of more than every 150 infected people will develop severe
illness, with symptoms including convulsions, vision loss, numbness and
paralysis. The symptoms can last for several weeks and have the
potential to be fatal.

No human fatalities from the virus have been reported this year. Last
year, 21 were reported statewide.

Anyone spotting a dead bird or tree squirrel that may have succumbed to
the disease should report it to (877) WNV-BIRD, or online at
www.westnile.ca.gov.

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