BOISE, Idaho --West Nile virus
has likely contributed to the deaths of at least three
people in Idaho this summer, including a Massachusetts boy,
state health officials said Friday. Rocco Magliozzi, 12, of
Norwood, Mass., died July 28 at a Boise hospital after
contracting both West Nile virus -- a mosquito-borne virus
-- and Rocky Mountain spotted fever -- a tick-borne virus,
Department of Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan
said. Officials believe the boy was bitten by both insects
while attending summer camp in southern Idaho.
It's not clear which disease
caused the boy's death, Shanahan said, though it was likely
a combination of both. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is
typically more severe than West Nile, he said.
A man from Elmore County and
a Lincoln County woman, both over the age of 70, recently
died after contracting West Nile virus, Shanahan said.
Neither of their names were released.
"It's kind of like the flu --
when people get older, the flu can bring them down while a
younger person would recover," Shanahan said. "West Nile can
be the same."
It's the first year that
Idaho officials know of any West Nile-related fatalities,
and it's still early in the mosquito season, Shanahan said.
At least 54 people have been sickened by the disease.
Nationally, Florida and the
Gulf Coast are hot spots for West Nile virus, though in
recent years a growing number of cases have occurred in
Western states, said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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