Conference on West Nile virus to be held

CLEVELAND -- A conference for health-care professionals about the West Nile virus is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle.
Experts will present information about transmission and development of the disease, ways to prevent infection, correct diagnosis and care for victims and how the virus affected the community and local hospitals in 2002.
The West Nile virus epidemic of 2002 was the largest outbreak of a mosquito-transmitted disease in U.S. history, in terms of the number of human cases and the geographic distribution of those cases.
West Nile virus was detected in 44 states and in all 88 counties in Ohio. Ohio ranked third among states in the number of human cases, and Cuyahoga County accounted for 50 percent of Ohio's cases, hospital officials said. Information on the conference and registration, which is required, is available at http://cme.cwru.edu.
The conference is sponsored by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at CWRU, and is presented by the Ohio Department of Health, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, City of Cleveland Department of Public Health and the natural history museum.