August 11, 2007 - An adult in El Paso County has a mild case; state announces 2 Denver residents have died of the disease.

Health officials are bracing for the worst West Nile epidemic in Colorado since the first deaths from the disease were reported in 2003.

The prediction Friday came on the same day that the year’s first human case of the virus in El Paso County was confirmed by the county health department and the state announced that two Denver residents have died from West Nile disease.

The recent mix of moisture and high temperatures has created a prime breeding environment for the mosquitoes that transmit the disease to humans.

So far this year, 72 human cases of West Nile have been confirmed, and officials think the conditions could lead to the most cases since 2003, when a record 2,947 people became ill.

“The evidence has shown that we are going to have the most active season we’ve had since the 2003 outbreak,” said John Poppy, an epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“We’re not going to reach those numbers, but we’re going to have the highest number of cases since then.”

Two Denver residents, a 63-year-old and a 77-year-old, died last week after contracting the virus last month, according to the state health department. Statewide, 78 people have died from the virus since 2003.

The El Paso County patient, an adult, was being treated without hospitalization after coming down with a mild case of the virus, health officials said. The county health department refused to release additional details about the patient, including gender or age. That information is typically made available by the state and many county health departments.

Rosemary Bakes-Martin, public health administrator for the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment, refused to release the information, saying she did not want to set off false alarms for any age groups or residents living in specific locations.

“It’s not any one age or area of the county that could be affected,” she said. “Everyone in this county needs to be cognizant of the issue and take precautions.”

County health departments around Colorado, as well as the state, have different ways of reporting such cases to the public. For instance, Denver County will report all of its cases to the state, which then releases the information. In Pueblo County, the information is modeled after the state’s before being sent out.

Poppy said the department usually lists the age, gender and location because of the public’s general interest in when people are getting sick and where.
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