BOISE - (KBCI) -
August 2, 2006
A
Boston family is mourning the loss of their son after he passed away
Friday complaining of a rash, fever, and headache.
While the exact cause of death for Rocco Magliozzi has not been
confirmed, health officials say he tested positive for West Nile and
they are waiting for the results from a Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
test.
Teresa and Phillip Magliozzi didn't know that when they sent
their 12-year-old son Rocco to camp in Idaho he wouldn't be coming
home.
"We sent him to a great camp and who could have predicted that he
would have gotten bit by a bug?" said Teresa Magliozzi, Rocco's mom.
Rocco, from Norwood, Massachusetts, was at the SUWS Youth Camp in
Gooding. It's a camp for troubled children.
That's where he became sick with a fever, rash and headache,
symptoms of both West Nile and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
"Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is tick-born. It is rare here but
we do see a few cases each year. It can be a very dangerous disease.
It can kill people," said Ross Mason with the Idaho Department of
Health and Welfare.
According to health officials, Rocco tested positive for West
Nile. The tests for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are expected later
this week , but Health and Welfare says that if that test is
positive it's likely a combination of both diseases killed the boy.
"We're always concerned, we want to know what the cause of death
might be," said Mason.
For Idaho it would be the first human death by West Nile since
the disease showed up in the state several years ago.
"All we ask is that people try to take a few precautions," warned
Mason.
It's a message that health officials hope everyone listens to
now, as the Magliozzi family tries to cope with the loss of their
son.
Last year Idaho reported three cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted
Fever. Currently a Magic Valley man is reported to be sick with the
disease.
Health officials here say that the disease is more prevalent on
the East Coast, but the disease was actually first identified in the
Rocky Mountains.
