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Posted on 06/23/2004 10:47:00 AM PDT by eyespysomething
U.S. officials warn of new mosquito disease
Associated Press
Atlanta — As if West Nile virus were not bad enough, U.S. health officials are now on the lookout for another mosquito-borne disease, fearing it could become a permanent part of the U.S. landscape if it entered the country.
Rift Valley fever, which originated in Africa, is the only disease at the top of both human health and agriculture lists of dangerous diseases.
The virus can kill people, with a near 1-per-cent mortality rate, making it deadlier than West Nile. Rift Valley also poses a greater threat to cattle and sheep.
It kills up to 30 per cent of the livestock it infects and if it were found in animals here, it probably would prompt livestock bans by other countries.
“This is not a disease that occurs here now, but we want to make sure people are aware of the signs and symptoms,” said Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, chief of the special pathogens branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The medical and public health community need to be mindful of it.”
Most people get a flu-like illness when infected. Some may develop serious symptoms, including liver or kidney disease, Dr. Ksiazek said.
About 14 per cent of those seriously ill with Rift Valley fever in previous outbreaks died. West Nile kills about 10 per cent of those with serious complications, such as brain inflammation.
The virus is worrisome because at least 30 species of mosquitoes are capable of carrying it from cattle or sheep to humans, far more than the kind of mosquitoes that can carry West Nile. People also can catch it by handling the blood or fluids of an infected animal.
Scientists said that Rift Valley fever was being researched as a possible weapon during the Cold War and showed promise because of its stability in an aerosol form.
Despite the concern, health and agricultural officials have been slow to prepare for Rift Valley, said Dr. Corrie Brown, a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Georgia and a member of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture's advisory committee for animal and poultry diseases.
“I think people weren't very worried about it until we started to think about agri-terror,” Dr. Brown said.
The disease could appear in North America as mysteriously as West Nile, which first showed up as the culprit in the unexplained deaths of birds in New York in 1999.
The virus was first identified in a 1930 sheep outbreak in Kenya's Rift Valley in eastern Africa. For the next 70 years, it remained on the continent, emerging for the first time outside Africa in outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 2000.
In those cases, about 100 people died and 800 became ill.
Luckily, the virus seems to have disappeared, and there have been no new cases there since 2001.
Rift Valley fever is one of several emerging viruses being studied by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Tex. One focus is better vaccines, since there is no approved vaccine for people or livestock in case of an outbreak, Dr. Ksiazek said. The military developed a vaccine that has been approved for testing in people.
“It would really be hard to control this without a vaccine,” said Dr. C.J. Peters, director of biodefence at UTMB in Galveston.
a few choice quotes:
emerging for the first time outside Africa in outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 2000.
the virus seems to have disappeared, and there have been no new cases there since 2001.
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Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Practice run?
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CDC says:
" Is the disease ever fatal?
Approximately 1% of humans that become infected with RVF die of the disease. Case-fatality proportions are significantly higher for infected animals."
Therefore, more Islamoterrorists would die of it than humans.
This shouldn't be a problem, just whip out a little DDT and..................oops, not an option. The greenophiles have made that handy bit of chemical goodness a bad thing. So we go the way of much of africa now. People dying of a mosquito borne disease with a cheap and effective protective measure witheld because bad press made it unpopular.
STOOOOPID!
but with terrorism, the goal is to force us to alter our lifestyles, make us into meek sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
I know my kids have bug spray on all the time now when they are outside. It is a hassle, maybe I should just keep them inside?
Yes, wasn't there just a study out stating how much help DDT could have actually done in the last century if it were allowed to be used? Something about the effectiveness heavily outweighs the harmfulness.
You mean that there is only a 99% chance that I will survive?
lol, as long as you don't get out of bed today!
Just tossin' stuff out there.
Mosquito Magnet. Covers a whole acre, and works GREAT! I got one in April and we now have NO mosquitoes. Zero. What a HUGE relief!
It probably would have helped if they didn't do things like this.
Try vacationing in Minnesota this summer. You won't think that mosquitoes are a problem when you go back home.
My neighbors have had a Mosquito Magnet running for the past six weeks - about the time the manufacturers say it takes for the mosquito breeding cycle to be interrupted - out near the wooded pond shared by our properties, and the difference is STUNNING.
Just a few weeks ago, my brother and I were covered with bug spray working with a propane torch on desoldering some circuit boards, and we'd torch a few of the swarming mosquitos out of the air when we needed to let the board cool off.
Now, I can play outside with my dog for half an hour, and see maybe one mosquito.
We also put larvaecide donuts in the pond recently, but that was done also earlier in the year, and didn't make nearly the difference that the Mosquito Magnet seems to have made.
I actually lol on that one. Thanks for the smile!
Yup! My Mosquito Magnet has saved the summer for us. Except when I leave the property, I haven't seen ANY of the little buggers since April.
I may have to look into that. My boys have GOT to be able to go outside to work off their energy, and I hate spraying them down with bug spray. Besides, then the damn things bite their faces.
Meanwhile, Senator Kerry votes to put mosquito's on endangered species list.
You know, the week I was born, Life magazine was full of ads for DDT. Very effective against mosquito's, but not allowed anymore.
When I was a kid, back in the late 40's, early 50's we used to chase the bug truck down our street. The DDT didn't kill US. (the photo didn't take on copy/paste)
They're still pretty expensive ($400+) but I can attest to the value. Best four hundred I've spent in a long time. It's almost eerie at dusk to NOT be swatting the little ba$tards. They now have a solar powered model; perfect for rural land with no electricity.
www.mosquitomagnet.com
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