Ontario man tests positive for West Nile virus

Lab tests have confirmed that a man a man living west of Toronto was ill with West Nile virus.

John Steven's doctor told him Friday afternoon about the positive results, making him the first Canadian known to have contracted the disease this year.

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg conducted the test. Its results are pending for four other Ontario men suspected of having the mosquito-borne virus.

The 51-year-old Burlington truck driver suffered flu-like symptoms and a rash in early August. He was treated in hospital and is now out of danger.

Although health officials said Stevens likely got the disease when he was travelling in the southern United States, he said he could have been infected in Burlington.

He said he spends a lot of time doing yard work at home and remembers being bitten by mosquitoes.

There have been 673 human cases of West Nile virus in the U.S. so far this year, including 32 deaths.

An elderly Ontario man died three years ago after contracting the virus during a visit to New York City.

• FROM AUG. 31, 2002: West Nile fears grow in Canada

A federal scientist told CBC Newsworld Saturday that the virus could become a nationwide problem in Canada.

Dr. Harvey Artsob, who works at the Health Canada testing lab in Winnipeg, said the virus has reached Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in just a few years, and it could keep spreading west.

"So far Atlantic Canada has been spared, but we also have to keep looking there," he said. "We can't rule out any area, to say West Nile won't go there."

Although the disease is potentially fatal, most people who contract the virus do not become sick or at worst suffer mild, flu-like symptoms.

Health experts say the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are most susceptible.