By Justin Webb BBC Washington correspondent

Officials in the American state of Louisiana are to call for the help of the US Air Force in their attempts to protect their citizens from a mosquito-borne illness that has killed at least seven people in the state.

West Nile Virus - named after an area in Uganda where it was first identified - appeared in the United States in 1999 when seven people died in New York.

Click here for a map of the disease

The disease has now spread much further and there are fears that the death toll could be much higher this year.

America is facing an "emerging, infectious disease epidemic", according Julie Gerberding, director of the Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control.

Target areas

The outbreak is far more extensive and potentially far more deadly than the nation's first experience of the disease three years ago.

This summer West Nile Virus has been detected in a number of southern states, but is centred on Louisiana, where seven people have died so far and about 80 are in hospital.

One of Louisiana's senators is going to make an official request today for the US Air Force to help.

Officials want the air force reduce the mosquito population of the state by spraying insecticide on certain targeted areas - including one close to the city of New Orleans, where several of the victims lived.

Meanwhile, holidaymakers and local people are being told that all they can do to protect themselves against the disease is to avoid getting bitten.

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