West Nile Virus Set For Fresh Rampage Across US

New Scientist ^ | 8-8-2003 | Shaoni Bhattacharya

[blam]

West Nile Virus set for fresh rampage across US

16:18 08 August 03

NewScientist.com news service

Cases of West Nile Virus in the US have tripled in a week, prompting officials to warn that the 2003 outbreak may well surpass the previous year's record levels.

At least 164 people in 16 different states are infected with the deadly virus, compared with 59 a week ago. Seven people have died so far in 2003 from WNV.

The virus's spread also appears more extensive this year - by 7 August 2002, there had been 112 human cases in only four states, Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said on Thursday.

Gerberding noted that most of the cases in the 2002 WNV season occurred in August and September. "So [the current levels are] very concerning to us. It indicates that we are starting the epidemic with more cases and more areas affected than 2002, and if the same pattern proves to hold true, we could be seeing an even greater number of affected people," she warned.

The deadly virus rampaged across the US in 2002, causing a record 4156 cases and causing 284 deaths. Only handful of states - Arizona, Oregon, Utah and Nevada - had no cases in humans or animals in 2002. But Gerberding cautions that "this virus is on the move and therefore no one can be assumed to be exempt".

Viral hurricane

WNV, which originates in Africa, was unknown in North America until it arrived in New York in 1999. It spread rapidly across the US, and has now established itself as an endemic virus.

It is harboured by animals including birds and horses and transmitted via mosquito bites. There is no vaccine and no specific treatment for people who contract WNV.

The signs for 2003 are ominous. Reports of WNV in horses "far outpaces" the number of infected horses seen in 2003, says Gerberding. And more than twice as many samples of mosquitoes show evidence of infection than in 2002.

She urges that people in affected areas "need to be very aggressive about taking steps to protect themselves". This includes using insect repellent containing the chemical DEET, putting mosquito screens up in the home, and emptying standing water where mosquitoes breed.

But the virus is difficult to halt. Raoult Ratard, state epidemiologist for the Louisiana, which was particularly badly hit in 2002, told Associated Press: "It's like a viral hurricane."

Shaoni Bhattacharya

[glock rocks]

ddt.

[Tacis]

I love an ornate conspiracy theory.

Could it be that we are under attack? Where, all of a sudden, did all the deadly viruses come from? First, we had AIDS. Not many people looked at the possible causes (other than, of course, it was God's judgment on faggots) and focused on it's effects, killing valuable fairies. Then came West Nile Virus with some logical but fuzzy explanation about birds being infected. Then came Mad Cow disease, mostly a British/European disease, at least 'til last year. Then we had SARS and some blather about eating civet cats in a Chinese restaurant. Then, we had Monkey pox, traced to Gambian rats.

Why now? We've been at risk for all of these for hundreds of years. We've always been international traders. It is like some enemy is trying out all the bacteriological weapons in his arsenal until he gets the right mix of results. Who is it? China, Israel, Iran, Russia, Cuba, North Korea? Imagine the profit in launching a devestating plague and being able to sell us the cure?

[Tauzero]

"Why now?"

It's a bear market.

[discostu]

The answer is: we've only gotten the level of media noise necessary to notice these things recently. Killer outbreaks happen constantly throughout recorded history, the names of the diseases change but the fact of them goes back to Babylon and before. The difference is we now find out about disease "rampaging" on the other side of the planet.

Then of course there's the medias love affair with sensationalism. Everything has to be a big deal. Notice the end of the very first sentence of this article "could well surpass last year's record level." West Nile's only been here a couple of years, last year was the first time it went national, but they make it sound like it's been here a long time and things were especially bad last year and going to get even worse. The truth is West Nile hasn't even been in America long enough to get a baseline for judging the severity of an outbreak. Oh but we're going to break the record this year. In the meantime 164 out of 280,000,000 people have this disease, take a close look at those numbers and really understand the threat.

West Nile isn't new it's just new to America, AIDS is a rather prolonged discussion but suffice it to say that it's definitely not new though what it was before is still undecided", Mad Cow is a VERY old disease and there still hasn't been any compelling evidence that it jumped species, SARS was primarily a problem with socialized medicine and poor quarantine practices, pox jump species from rodents ALL the time. Really if you dig a little you can see there's nothing below the surface of these things, it's media overhype of pretty normal outbreaks.

[ex-Texan]

Not in the news media yet -- but birds are falling out of trees here in the Pacific Northwest. WNV may be here too.

[NEPA]

No conspiracy.

This year's rainy weather in much of the country is responsible for a greatly increased mosquito population and hence a greater threat of West Nile.

[Texans]

Go here http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0503/0503westnile.htm/

to read an interesting article on why the county waits and sprays for the adult mosquitoes instead of going after them in the larva stage...

Quote from the article…

“From May 5 to May 7, more than a hundred AMCA mosquito control experts met in Washington, DC, to urge members of Congress to let them do their job by easing restrictions on larvicide spraying. The problem is the Clean Water Act whose intent is to reduce pollutants. … According to Joseph M. Conlon, a spokesman for AMCA, instead of helping mosquito control authorities to protect human life, the restrictions would have "the perverse effect of increasing reliance upon adulticides to address mosquito populations historically controlled more effectively and safely using proven public health larvicides." … Simply stated, it's better to kill mosquitoes in their larva stage of development than to have trucks spraying pesticides to knock down the adult population. The object is to kill mosquitoes before they become a threat to the health of humans and other species.

Here again we see how the environmentally inspired Clean Water Act is having the opposite affect of "protecting" people. The EPA has stripped Americans of many of the pesticides that formerly protected them against a vast range of insect pests that spread disease or inflict millions of dollars of property damage. “

[malia]

WNV first showed up in NY - I believe in the Long Island area - in 1999. Is it known how it was transported?

[Texans]

I'm not sure how it got here...I do know, that last year Dallas County sprayed without waiting for "viral isolations". Now they are waiting to catch the right species of pest and outbreaks ???