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Volume 7, Number 4—August 2001
THEME ISSUE
West Nile Virus
West Nile Virus

West Nile Fever Outbreak, Israel, 2000: Epidemiologic Aspects

Miriam Weinberger*Comments to Author , Silvio D. Pitlik*, Dan Gandacu†, Ruth Lang‡, Faris Nassar§, Debora Ben David¶, Ethan Rubinstein¶, Avi Izthaki#, Joseph Mishal**, Ruth Kitzes††, Yardena Siegman-Igra‡‡, Michael Giladi‡‡, Neora Pick§§, Ella Mendelson¶¶, Hanna Bin##, Tamar Shohat¶¶, and Michal Y. Chowers‡
Author affiliations: *Rabin Medical Center, Petach Tikva, Israel; †Israel Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel; ‡Meir Medical Center, Kfar Sava, Israel; §Western Galilee Hospital, Nahariya, Israel; ¶The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel; #Assaf-Harofe Medical Center, Zrifin, Israel; **Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon, Israel; ††Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel; ‡‡Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel; §§Bnei-Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel; ¶¶Central Virology Laboratory, Tel Hashomer, Israel; ##Israeli Center for Disease Control, Tel Hashomer, Israel

Main Article

Table 1

Reported outbreaks caused by West Nile virus in Israel

Year (Ref) Area Type of locality No. studied Age CNS involvement Reported deaths Documentation
1941 (4) Center &
Tel-Aviv Urban & rural 500 All ages None None None
1951 (5,6) Haifa Agricultural settlement 123 All ages Meningitis (1/123, 0.8%) None Virus isolate (1/123, 0.8%) Serology (14/26, 54%)
1950 (7) Hadera and coastal plain Army camps and communal settlement 105 17-40 y Nuchal rigidity ("a few cases") None Virus isolate (9/50, 18%)
Serology (18/24, 75%)
1950-53 (8) Militarya
hospital Army camps 400 17-23 y Meningitis (1/400, 0.3%) None NA
1953 (9) Tel Hashomer
Hospitala Army camps 70 18-20 y None None Virus isolate (13/70, 18%) Serology (50/70, 68%)
1957 (11) Hadera area Army camps 300 18-28 y Encephalitis (1/300, 0.3%) None Virus isolate (8/50, 40%)
Serology (139/154, 88%)
Urban & rural 65 All ages Encephalitis (2/56, 3.1%) None Serology (23/50, 46%)
Nursing homes 49 66-86 y Encephalitis 16/49 (33%) 4/49, 8.2% Serology (53%)
(in patients with encephalitis: 9/12, 75%)
1980 (12) Negev Desert Army camps 32 18 y Meningitis (1/32, 3.1%)
Nuchal rigidity (3/32, 9.3%) None Serology (10/11, 91%)
2000 (PR) Country-wide Urban and rural 417 0.5-95 Encephalitis (135/256, 51%) 35/265, 13%) 35/417, 8.4% Serology (417/417, 100%)

aSoldiers were transferred to military hospitals according to army routines, not necessarily because of severe illness.
CNS = central nervous system; y = year; PR = present report.

Main Article

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Page updated: April 27, 2012
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