BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - State officials have confirmed four more West Nile virus deaths, bringing the total to six in Louisiana.
The Department of Health and Hospitals said Friday that 68 cases - 15 of them new - have been detected so far this year. More than half - 37 - are of neuro-invasive disease, the more serious form of the virus that infects the brain and spinal cord. DHH says that's the highest total of neuro-invasive infections in the state since 2006.
The new infections include eight cases of neuro-invasive disease in Bossier, Caddo, Concordia, Jefferson, Tangipahoa, Union, Washington and Webster parishes and five cases of the milder West Nile fever reported in Livingston, Orleans, Ouachita and St. Tammany parishes.
Two new asymptomatic cases were reported from East Baton Rouge and Rapides parishes.