Season’s 1st W. Nile virus case reported in Baltimore

An adult who lives in the Baltimore region is the first person this season to contract West Nile virus in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Health announced Monday that it was the first confirmed local case of the mosquito-borne disease. The department did not release further details about the person because privacy laws forbade it. The number of human West Nile virus cases varies each year. Peak activity occurred in 2003 and 2012, when 73 and 47 cases were reported, respectively. In 2015, there were 46 cases. Symptoms of the virus, which appear in two to 14 days, include fever, headache, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph glands. Fewer than1percent of those exposed develop more severe infections, such as headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and paralysis. Most people show no symptoms. mained alert and conscious, she said. Medics took her by ambulance to a landing zone, and a Maryland State Police helicopter transported her to Salisbury, she said. “It’s just a clear example of how, if an umbrella is not properly installed or left unattended, it only takes one gust of wind to have it be a very serious hazard to somebody,” she said. Waters said Sunday’s incident highlights the need for beach visitors to make sure umbrellas are attended and properly secured in the sand. “Umbrella safety is a regular topic of discussion for our beach patrol members,” she said.

Congressmen, city officials assail anti-abortion move

Baltimore’s congressional delegation joined city officials Monday in denouncing potential federal cuts to reproductive health services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed creating a rule that would prevent funding from the Title X Family Planning Program from going to health centers that perform abortions or are affiliated with those who do. Under what some are calling a “gag rule,” the health centers that get Title X funding would also not be allowed to “promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning.” The delegation joined Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wenat the city’s Druid Clinic on North Avenue to protest the rule change, which is in a public comment period until July 31. The clinic is one of 23 health centers in the city that get the funding. The health centers served more than 17,000 patients in 2016. The city gets $560,000 in Title X money; the Maryland Department of Health provides another $850,000 that is subjected to Title X rules. The lawmakers said the Title X rule change will hurt access to all health services be- cause the clinics also provide services such as cancer screenings, HIV testing and counseling and substance use and mental health screenings.

Jealous releases answers to NRA questionnaire

Ben Jealous, the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor, released his answers on Monday to the 2018 National Rifle Association questionnaire and called on Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to do the same. “The people of Maryland deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials,” Jealous said in a statement. “When an organization like the NRA has repeatedly called for policies that go against Maryland values, we all deserve to know where our elected officials stand in public and in private.” Jealous has repeatedly criticized Hogan for never releasing his answers to the NRA in a four-year-old questionnaire. During the 2014 campaign, Hogan earned an A- rating from the organization. In a meeting with students from Great Mills High School last week, Hogan agreed to reject any money or support from the NRA. On Jealous’ 2018 NRA questionnaire, the former NAACP president wrote he agrees that the Second Amendment guarantees all law-abiding Americans a right to own firearms. But he said he supports additional restrictions on gun ownership in Maryland, including expanding licensing requirements to apply to all guns, similar to current restrictions on handguns. He said he would support legislation to forbid an adult to leave a firearm where a person younger than 18 can get access to it, citing the shooting at Great Mills in Southern Maryland this year. “The death of Jaelynn Willey shows us that it is still too easy for children to get access to the firearms of their parents,” Jealous wrote.