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Bioterrorism threat said real Oct 17, 2002 12:00 PM, Harry Cline There are 7,000 unaccounted for former Soviet Union biological warfare scientists and technicians in the world today. Before 9/11/01, that fact would be filed away under "So what...just left over Cold War paranoia." Now, though, that fact is cause for considerable concern to Americans, and a panel of experts on bioterrorism and radical environmental groups speaking at the recent California Plant Health Association and CropLife America joint annual convention in Palm Desert, Calif., only served to heighten that concern when they addressed biological warfare issues facing America today. According...

Babylon 5 and Lost actress Mira Furlan has died at the age of 65, her family and management have confirmed. Furlan played Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the 1990s sci-fi TV drama, Babylon 5, and Danielle Rousseau in the noughties mystery drama, Lost. Her family told the BBC the Croatian actress died on Wednesday due to complications with West Nile Virus. "It is with great sadness that I confirm the passing of Mira Furlan" the statement read. "She was a woman full of kindness, strength and compassion." It continued: "She died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles, surrounded by her...

Is there West Nile virus at the New York state fair? That's a natural suspicion that arises out of some unusual conduct Wednesday by the Onondaga County Health Department. Another suspicion that arises is that the department may have changed its practices -- and possibly endangered public health -- in order to avoid hurting attendance at the fair or raising embarrassing questions while the governor was in town. Here's the background. Each summer, the Onondaga County Health Department tests mosquitoes for the presence of the West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis. It does this by placing traps in wet...

DENVER — A Colorado man who died of West Nile virus last year was likely infected through a blood transfusion, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. The man, who was undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, began developing West Nile symptoms after 29 days in the hospital, sharply narrowing the number of ways he could have been exposed to the virus, according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. He died after 47 days in the hospital. Eighteen days prior to showing symptoms, the patient received a blood transfusion that health officials now believe contained...

Just observed a vehicle with bright flashing yellow lights proceeding at about 5 mph spraying a fog or mist at about a 45 degree up angle on my street at 1:41 am. Spray mist went up about 8-9 feet above ground level. I listen to the local news extensively and there has not been any mention of this activity on any radio station in any form.

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – With hundreds of human cases of the West Nile Virus being reported across Texas and more than a dozen related deaths in North Texas it seems some people are overreacting and calling 911 when they’re bitten by a mosquito. One woman called Fort Worth 911 requesting assistance because her young nephew had a bump on his arm.

Two drops of water is all it takes to breed mosquitoes in your back yard. So what are you doing to prevent West Nile virus? Tony Jenkins, the assistant director of environmental health for the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, said there are options besides DEET-based insecticides, starting with garlic. “Garlic is an insect repellent... it really is,” he said. You can eat it and you can plant it — either way, mosquitoes don't like it. “Wherever that area is, and wherever the aromatics tend to penetrate, that would help to do some mosquito reduction around your house,”...

Two chickens have tested positive for West Nile Virus, according the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. The samples were taken from coops located in Thermal and southwest of Mecca, said a CMVCD spokesperson. The news comes one day after the agency announced a Cathedral City resident became the first human case of West Nile reported in the area since 2008. District staff will intensify mosquito surveillance, spraying larvicide, and making the public aware in these areas in an effort to reduce the number of adult mosquitoes.

Two dead crows found in Sunnyvale and San Jose have tested positive for West Nile virus, the first infected birds in Santa Clara County this year. The birds, discovered last week, were in the West San Jose area near Bongate Court and Latimer Avenue and in Sunnyvale near Orleans Drive, north of Highway 237. So far, no human West Nile virus cases have been found in Santa Clara County and the Vector Control District is collecting adult mosquitoes weekly for testing. In addition, the district is following patterns of where the dead birds are found in an effort to identify...

About 4,000 foreclosed homes in Los Angeles County have backyard pools. Health officials fear that many of these pools will turn into perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes -- and the dreaded West Nile virus -- if they go unmaintained.

Severe West Nile Infection Could Lead To Lifetime Of Symptoms ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2008) — Most people who suffer severe infection with West Nile virus still experience symptoms years after infection and many may continue to experience these symptoms for the rest of their lives according to research presented March 17 at the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia. "What we are finding is that about 60% of people, one year after severe infection with West Nile, still report symptoms," says Kristy Murray of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, a lead researcher...

Deadliness of West Nile virus explained 22 August 2007 NewScientist.com news service A single genetic mutation might explain why West Nile virus has, within a decade, switched from causing relatively mild infections in humans to outbreaks of deadly encephalitis. The virus, which can pass to humans via mosquitoes that feed on infected birds, didn't pose a serious threat until the mid-1990s, when outbreaks of deadly infection sprang up in Israel, Romania, Russia and eventually North America. Aaron Brault and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, discovered that these new strains have in common a mutation in the gene for...

This is one of those elephant in the living room kinds of problems which people ought to be talking about but don't seem to be. I mean, of all the animals I never would have figured I'd ever feel sorry for or which would ever be scarce or quality as an endangered species or anything like that..... I mean, you can't find crows in Virginia or Maryland any more, they're gone. We used to have enormous flocks of crows in Alexandria; all gone. We've got one lonely crow living at Southern Towers now, the sole survivor. Likewise I was out...

Saratoga Man 1st West Nile Case In Santa Clara Co. (BCN) SARATOGA, Calif. The first confirmed human case of West Nile virus in the Bay Area in 2006 is a 65-year-old Saratoga man who was never hospitalized and has recovered, Santa Clara County public health officials announced Tuesday. The county Public Health Department suspects that a second man, a Cupertino resident over 50, may also have been infected with the virus but the results of confirming tests will not be known until next week, according to county Deputy Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. "We know that West Nile Virus is...

The six-year old U.S. outbreak of West Nile virus is a significant threat to public health and shows no signs of abating. Last year, there were more than 2,500 serious cases and 100 deaths. Still early in this year's West Nile virus season (there is a time lag during which animals are infected, mosquitoes convey the virus to humans, and the virus incubates until symptoms occur), the mosquito-borne virus has been found in animal hosts (primarily birds) in 44 states, and has caused almost a thousand serious infections and a score of deaths in humans in 36 states. As of...

Noisy Spring Avoiding the West Nile virus. By Henry I. Miller The six-year-old U.S. outbreak of West Nile virus is a significant threat to public health and shows no signs of abating. Last year, there were more than 2,500 serious cases and 100 deaths. Though still early in the West Nile virus season (there is a time lag during which animals are infected, mosquitoes convey the virus to humans, and the virus incubates until symptoms occur), this year the mosquito-borne virus has been found in animal hosts (primarily birds) in 39 states, and has caused more than a hundred serious...

"An elderly Fresno County man is the third person in the state to die from complications of West Nile virus this year."

Max del Hierro never saw the mosquito, and thought little of the itchy welt on his right ankle. But that bite in August was the start of a painful, crippling ordeal that nearly cost the San Jose computer engineer his life, and has since given him a new sense of purpose. * * * Del Hierro was well aware of West Nile virus before he contracted it. He knew that dead birds had been found infected with the virus in the hills where he liked to walk and bike. But it didn't occur to him that he might have caught...

... Mosquitoes feeding on the same mouse can pass the West Nile virus among themselves, even in the absence of a viral infection in their unwitting host. This mosquito-to-mosquito transmission, observed in a laboratory by researchers from Texas and Britain, suggests the virus that has blazed across North America may have benefited from a mechanism in which some animals serve as little more than temporary conduits for viral particles. If the phenomenon - known as nonviremic transmission - indeed occurs in nature, it may force re-evaluation of the assumption that animals such as horses or rodents are so-called dead-end hosts...

It's 'like nothing we've ever seen before,' O.C. official says. West Nile virus is making a powerful, early showing in Orange County birds this season, possibly signaling an unusually large burst of virus- carrying mosquitoes that was fueled by winter rains. Fourteen dead birds have tested positive for the disease since January. In some bird tissues, infection was so massive that cellular staining used to detect the virus in the laboratory, normally visible only under a microscope, could be seen with the naked eye.