Wichita ? The state’s claim that only 18 human cases of the West Nile virus have been found in Kansas is misleading and is keeping people from being tested for the disease, a Wichita doctor said Wednesday.

State officials acknowledge that the narrow criteria used to record human cases severely underestimates the number of Kansans who likely have contracted the virus — perhaps by thousands. But a vast majority of those cases are mild, with many people not ever developing symptoms.

Nonetheless, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that health officials were evaluating the state’s decision to record only West Nile cases that develop into encephalitis or meningitis.

“There are issues under way right now about assessing whose taking the calls, how the cases are being counted and reported,” the governor said during a visit to the State Fair. “We want as accurate a figure as possible, and (health officials are) concerned that we figure out if it’s being done properly and, if not, correct the protocol.”

Misleading, specialist says

Dr. Tom Moore, an infectious disease specialist in Wichita, called the state’s recording only 18 cases “laughable.”

“It is misleading to the public,” Moore said. “And that is disconcerting because a majority of people I’m speaking to aren’t taking precautions against the virus. They are very dismissive of West Nile, and that could be because they are hearing that it’s very, very rare in Kansas.”

Moore said he had lost count of the number of West Nile cases he has treated this summer, but he has seen “easily three dozen cases in the last two weeks.” He said most patients — and some doctors — believe the headaches or fevers reported by the patients are simply the flu. Headaches and fevers are among the main symptoms of West Nile.

“Given the lack of information, because nobody is gathering data on patients, there is no way to know how many have West Nile,” Moore said. “It is easily within the realm of possibility that several hundred, possibly thousands, of Kansans have symptomatic West Nile.”

Wide latitude

Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the federal government gave states wide latitude in how they count West Nile cases.

For example, as of Tuesday, Colorado reported 1,252 cases of the virus, the most in the nation. But that state counts all West Nile cases that develop into fever, meningitis and encephalitis — with 77 percent of its cases involving only fever.

Watson said Kansas chose not to count cases sent to private laboratories because some of those come back negative. But she said health officials know that having 18 verified cases means it is likely many more people have mild forms of the virus. She said national data have shown that only one out of 150 cases of West Nile develops into a severe case.

“That doesn’t mean that all 149 of those other cases will each have symptoms that they recognize,” Watson said. “It may be some will be so minor they don’t realize they have it.”

She said the state chose to concentrate on severe cases.

“We don’t want a large amounts of tests to get backed up so that patients with severe symptoms are waiting for their results behind people who have milder cases,” she said.

Testing all possible cases would strain state resources.

“There is a limited amount of resources for testing, and we have chosen to use those resources in cases with severe symptoms and there are more benefits for the testing,” Watson said.

Moore and state officials agree that until the first hard freeze hits Kansas, residents should take precautions against the virus, such as using a good mosquito repellent containing no more than 30 percent of the active ingredient DEET, avoid outdoor activities at dawn or dusk and eliminate mosquito-breeding sites such as old tires full of rainwater.