33 new cases of West Nile virus in IL, 346 total, 14th death also reported

[newsperson999]

14th WEST NILE DISEASE DEATH, 33 NEW CASES REPORTED Radio and TV Public Service Announcements Distributed

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Thirty-three new laboratory positive human cases of West Nile disease, including the death of a suburban Cook County man, were announced today by the Illinois Department of Public Health. So far this year, Illinois has reported 346 cases of the mosquito-borne disease and 14 deaths.

[newsperson999]

Illinois now has over 1/4 of all the cases nationwide this year...it had none last year and the first Humancase wasn't reported until Late May last.over 300 of the cases have been reported in the past month alone...something is fishy here

[areafiftyone]

Yup its called water dampness and humidity - it breeds thousands of mosquitoes.

[areafiftyone]

Why hasn't Illinois started spraying? New York City was spraying as soon as the first cased arrived. I remember having to shut our windows at night when the state was going around spraying. We have it pretty much under control. There are still a few cases but we caught it in time. The crows are back in full force too.

[newsperson999]

Yes but that is true everywhere nationwide..Statistics don't support all the cases in Illinois compared to the rest of the nation MS and LA have alot of human cases this year but those are in warm climate swampy states..Why IL?

[newsperson999]

Chicago started spraying last weekend I think

[areafiftyone]

Do you have a large bird population? Mainly crows? These mosquitoes kill the crows first - thats how you know the epidemic is going to spread to humans. As soon as birds start dying the state of Illinois should have started spraying to prevent alot of the spreading to humans.

[newsperson999]

Yes lots of crows in the burbs of Chicago...Well there used to be at least......

[areafiftyone]

I remember when NY started spraying the people were mad at Pataki and Guiliani for spraying (they were worried that the spray was toxic to humans and would produce side effects) but that preventive measure saved a few hundred lives at least.

[RonF]

A lot of people are reporting anecdotally that the bird populations seem way down in the Chicago area. There's an article on this in today's Sun-Times.

[areafiftyone]

It was the wierdest thing not seeing any crows for a whole summer. It was like they disappeared off the face of the earth. Now they are up in the trees screaming every morning and waking me up. ;-)

[Cynderbean]

The city of Chicago has been spraying as of the last week. They just started ! I have have not seen or heard a spray truck in the 'burbs (DuPage Co.) for years. Apparently Wheaton Il. must not be too concerned.

[Prairie Pubbie]

I know this sounds "way out there," but I've been wondering if it's possible that there is a connection between any of these mysterious crop dustings in MS last fall and the flurry of West Nile cases that have sprung up in MS, AL, and LA...

Crop duster pilot sought
On Oct 23 2001 2:09 PM with 20 comments

Search for Crop-Duster Called Off
On Oct 7 2001 1:29 PM with 5 comments

Miss. Probes Crop Duster Sprayings
On Oct 21 2001 3:41 AM with 77 comment

Sprayed Towboat Relased from Quarantine, EPA holding release of crop duster tests
On Oct 22 2001 9:26 PM with 78 comments

Another Crop Duster Sprays Suspicous Target (4 Coast Guard under treatment)
On Oct 23 2001 4:12 PM with 201 comments

[blondee123]

Oh boy, don't get me started, I live in a small town south of Chicago & i have contacted our local authorities about this & their answer was that "some residents of our town are affected by spraying cause they have asthma!". Well, if they have asthma they can just stay inside for a half hour after the spraying. Our town has decided NOT to spray. Until it's mandatory, they won't do a thing & we've already had a case of WNV in our town!!

[Ditter]

That is crazy, I have a history of asthma, but I would be begging them to spray if I lived there. Some people have no common sense.