The Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Public Health has confirmed four human cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in the Northeast Louisiana community of Winnsboro.

These cases were reported between July 5-24. 

Louisiana has reported a total of eight West Nile neuroinvasive disease cases in the state in 2024.

According to a press release, LDH says it is not uncommon to see increased West Nile disease activity in Louisiana during the summer months, a cluster of cases in a small locality is unusual. 

LDH recommends taking protective measures against mosquito bites, especially for residents of Caldwell, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union and West Carroll parishes.

What is West Nile Virus

West Nile virus (WNV) is spread by mosquitoes and can cause illness in people and animals. While 80% of human cases are asymptomatic, many people can develop West Nile fever. Symptoms are similar to the flu and may include fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rashes.

Many patients have low-grade or no fever. 

A small percentage of people can develop a severe form of infection called West Nile neuroinvasive disease, or West Nile encephalitis.

Individuals with pre-existing medical conditions and those who are over 60 years of age are at greater risk. Symptoms may last several weeks and can include high fever, stiff neck, disorientation, muscle weakness, numbness, coma and paralysis. In rare cases, West Nile neuroinvasive disease may result in death.

In 2023, Louisiana experienced 65 West Nile cases, including 46 neuroinvasive disease cases and four deaths. Last year’s cases occurred throughout the state, with multiple regions reporting their highest case counts in years.

Tips to protect yourself against mosquitoes

• Wear EPA-registered mosquito repellent outside and always follow product label instructions.
• Apply repellent on exposed skin and clothing, but do not apply under your clothes or on broken skin. 
• If you will be outside for an extended period, consider a travel-size container of repellent that can easily be carried with you.
• If you wear sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second. 
• To protect yourself from being exposed to mosquitoes indoors, ensure windows and doors are tight-fitting and that all screens are free of holes.

Protecting your home from mosquitoes

• Reduce the mosquito population by eliminating standing water around your home, where mosquitoes breed.
• Turn over wheelbarrows, plastic wading pools, buckets, trash cans, children’s toys or anything that could collect water.
• Try to quickly discard or store any unnecessary containers around your property to reduce the chances of water accumulating.
• Check and clean roof gutters routinely. Clogged gutters can produce millions of mosquitoes each season.
• Water gardens and ornamental pools can become major mosquito producers if allowed to stagnate. Take steps to prevent stagnation, such as adding fish or aeration.
• Clean and chlorinate swimming pools that are not being used. A swimming pool left untended for as little as a month can produce enough mosquitoes to result in neighborhood-wide complaints. Be aware that mosquitoes may even breed in the water that collects on swimming pool covers.

A new study ranks Louisiana as the worst state for the highest percentage of at-risk youth, another survey in which the state ranks last in key quality of life metrics.

The WalletHub report released this week showed Louisiana with the highest percentage of at risk youth based on 15 indicators.

Among the WalletHub findings:

Louisiana ranked first in highest percentage of disconnected youth, described as people 18 to 24 who aren’t working or attending school, second in percentage of youth without a high school diploma, 12th in percentage of overweight and obese youth and the third worst youth poverty rate.

Overall, about one in five Louisianians live in poverty and one in five also receive federal food assistance.

“Louisiana is the state with the most at-risk youth, largely because it has the highest share of people ages 18 to 24 who are not attending school, not working and have no degree beyond high school,” WallletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said in a statement. “This represents 17.7% of young adults in the state. In addition, Louisiana has the second-highest share of people ages 18 to 24 without a high school diploma, the third-highest youth poverty rate and the third-highest teen birth rate in the country.”

The WalletHub study follows Louisiana’s ranking last for the second straight year in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2024 Best States report, which cited an atmosphere of violent crime, poisonous industrial pollution, poverty and a dwindling population among the state’s hardships.

It also tracks with last year’s Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranking Louisiana 49th for child well-being.

More: Most Louisiana residents have negative outlook on direction of state: Here’s why

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – School leaders have touted the latest batch of newly released LEAP scores, while advocates said there is still much work to be done.

Louisiana saw minor improvements in student English test scores in 2024, while scores for math and science mostly stayed the same.

For grades 3-8, about 43 percent of students statewide achieved “mastery” in the English language arts test, a marginal improvement year-over-year. For the same grade levels, about 31 percent of students statewide achieved mastery in the math test, while about 28.5 percent of students achieved mastery in the science test.

“Mastery” is the state standard for proficiency.

The return to nearly pre-pandemic English scores was noteworthy for education leaders, who pointed to efforts to increase literacy among younger populations.

“Following consecutive years of improvement, these latest scores show students holding steady,” said Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. “With a need to see increased outcomes, however, these numbers substantiate our recent aggressive efforts to simply let teachers teach, provide students with high-dosage tutoring, refresh our school accountability model, and expand options for students to access high-quality schools.”

The 2024 LEAP scores can be found here.

The Coronavirus pandemic was a major disrupter for school systems nationwide, with school leaders acknowledging recovery is still a work in progress.

“The latest LEAP data released today is encouraging, with overall performance holding steady in line with recent achievement gains. With improvement confirmed in early grades, Louisiana’s emphasis on literacy initiatives and fundamental skills development is beginning to bear fruit,” said Ronnie Morris, President of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“The availability and accessibility of quality K-12 options is a strength of Louisiana’s system, in which families are empowered to provide the best learning environment for their children.”

About 36 percent of high school students achieved mastery across all subjects (English I, English II, Algebra I, Geometry, U.S. History and Biology).

“People have different learning styles, and we’re teaching to one, which is mostly lecture. The things we already know to do, we need to implement them. We just need to implement best practices,” said Ashana Bigard, a parent of two children in the Orleans Parish education system and a longtime education advocate.

“I know everybody’s going to focus on the one percent growth but considering how much money was poured into the system overall, there definitely needs to be more growth.”

Bigard said the results are not consistent with the amount of state and federal dollars that has been poured into education since the pandemic.

“We do have a lot of good teachers, we do have a lot of good people trying very hard, but they don’t have the resources,” she said. “We don’t have the small class sizes. We don’t have the books.”

But education researchers note there is a nationwide trend of low-test scores.

“We’re basically back to where we were pre-pandemic, and that’s a lot better than most states can say, so that’s a plus,” said Douglas Harris, chair of the economics department at Tulane University and director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.

“We still see improvement after years of continuous improvement, that’s like unusual. You don’t usually see states improving consistently over time, even to a small degree,” he said. “You’ve got the high absence rate, you’ve got students more stuck on their phones, mental health issues, and I think teaching has become less attractive.”

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