Revelation 6:7-8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.
The US death toll from West Nile virus has jumped almost one third in a one-week period. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 87 people have now been confirmed to have died from the disease.
The number of cases confirmed by the CDC has also jumped in the past week from 1,590 to 1,993. It is now officially the largest outbreak of West Nile virus in the United States since 1999.
For the first time, the majority of deaths have happened outside of Texas. Texas still has the most deaths with 40 confirmed deaths.
The virus has been reported in 47 states although 75% of the cases have been located in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota and Oklahoma. Only one of five people infected with West Nile show outward symptoms of the disease with the most severe getting neck stiffness, disorientation, coma and paralysis.