5/8/2003 1:27:12 PM

K. Dran

Province To Speed Up West Nile Virus Testing

Testing for the West Nile Virus will be accelerated and laboratory tests will now be performed in Ontario, stated the province’s health minister earlier today. Last year, all of Ontario’s suspected West Nile Virus cases were sent to Health Canada’s National Microbiological Laboratory in Winnipeg and test results took weeks before they came in.

In addition to this there will also be twenty six staff members added to the province’s labs and new equipment will enable Ontario to do up to four hundred tests for the virus each day, making it more convenient. The province will also send two laboratory staff members to the national microbiological lab for training on new tests being done to identify the virus in people. Furthermore, the province has budgeted $100 million over the next five years to help fight the West Nile virus. It has confirmed more that three hundred cases of West Nile infection up until this day, with some developing brain inflammation problems as well.

Unfortunately, seventeen people who had the illness have died. Three deaths were a direct result of the virus. West Nile may also have played a key role in the other fatalities.

Mosquitoes spread the virus after biting an infected bird. Person to person contact, such as coughing, sneezing or drinking from a shared cup does not spread the disease. Research has linked transmission of West Nile through blood transfusions.