West Nile virus kills 12 in US state of Louisiana

West Nile virus killed one more person and infected nine more this week in the US state of Louisiana, bringing the state's total West Nile-related deaths this year to 12 and cases of infections to 312, state health officials said Friday. The only year in which more West Nile-related cases and deaths were recorded in Louisiana was 2002, when 328 Louisianians were sickened and 24 people died. This year is also the worst year for West Nile nationally since the virus was discovered in the United States in 1999, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There have now been 4,249 cases of West Nile recorded this year, according to the CDC. More than 70 percent of the cases have been reported in eight states: Texas, Mississippi, Michigan, South Dakota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois and California. Texas has the highest number of West Nile cases in the country with more than 38 percent of the national total. Mississippi ranks the second with over 5 percent of the total. Health officials Monday confirmed two more West Nile virus- related deaths in Texas where more than 70 people have died of the mosquito-borne illness this year.