Louisiana Declares W. Nile Emergency, 58 infected

Errmmm...

Okay, that didn't turn out quite like I had planned...

Looks like the whitewater probe - all that work and nothing there.... :)

Worst Outbreak Of West Nile U.S. Has Ever Seen

West Nile Outbreak Emergency

State officials say it's only a matter of days until Louisiana will have the worst outbreak of West Nile Encephalitis the United States has ever seen. Already Louisiana has 58 total cases, with four confirmed deaths. Two of those four deaths are here in East Baton Rouge parish. As WAFB's Bob Waters reports, authorities are quickly learning that prevention is becoming absolutely critical to saving lives.

Mosquito control workers are responding to hundreds of calls a day for free mosquito inspections. They say about 1/5 of the calls show a West Nile hazard of stagnant water in tires, under flower pots, and other areas.

Daniel Garrett with mosquito control says what they are looking for is important so they don't have to keep coming back to the same residence treating it over and over again.

Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary David Hood says they expect to see an increase in cases for sure. State officials are expecting the worst. They say local mosquito control offices are working full tilt and money to pay for it is running thin. That's why federal assistance is needed.

Hood says they're doing a lot of spraying. At the rate spraying's going on, parishes are going to exhaust funds quickly. That's one reason that Governor Mike Foster has declared the emergency request. Emergency room nurses and doctors are also getting a briefing on the West Nile. Our lady of the Lake joined Slidell and Lake Charles hospitals getting a briefing from CDC scientists.

Susan Blumstein with Our Lady of the Lake Hospital says many people will come in with very benign symptoms and if they don't have their heads up and think they are seeing an increase in West Nile, the physician will just treat the person for the flu.

Officials say there are products at local stores and nurseries to kill mosquitoes in birdbaths and other areas around the house to apply to standing water. The bacteria is released in the water in the lawn in the mosquitoes ingest it, it kills them. Meanwhile, the spraying continues while the West Nile continues to spread.

Symptoms of West Nile are not much different than the flu. For much more on West Nile, log on to www.wafb.com, and then click on Healthline.

Breakdown of West Nile Cases:

Allen Parish - 1 case

Ascension Parish - 2 cases

Calcasieu Parish - 2 cases, 1 death

East Baton Rouge Parish - 12 cases, 3 deaths

West Baton Rouge Parish - 1 case

East Feliciana - 1 case

Jefferson Parish - 2 cases

Livingston Parish - 7 cases

Orleans Parish - 1 case

Quachita Parish - 1 case

St. Tammany Parish - 18 cases, 1 death

Tangipahoa Parish - 7 cases

Washington Parish - 1 case

Mississippi - 1 case (Being treated in Louisiana)

Undetermined - 2 cases

from WAFB

Did west nile virus get here because we stupidly imported people or animals from Africa who had this virus?

For more info goto My website and scroll down to Louisiana (list of tv stations in all states and papers)

Louisiana, Mississippi Report 44 New WNV Cases (from Here)

My father told me that West Nile virus was found in a bird on his block.

Is anyone suspecting that this problem may have been a deliberate bio-agent attack ?

Louisiana Declares W. Nile Emergency, 58 infected

Yikes!

Yes, I posted such conjecture in a related thread regarding two dead birds found on White House grounds with the West Nile Virus infection. The dead birds were found on the South Lawn.

Is anyone suspecting that this problem may have been a deliberate bio-agent attack ?

Yes, here is a link to a previous post.
West Nile Virus from Iraq Via Cuba? (My Title)

Here is the same article on the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons website.
MEDICAL JOURNAL EXPOSES CUBA’S BIOTERRORISM LINK

1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9
Tucson, AZ 85716-3450
Phone: (800) 635-1196
Hotline: (800) 419-4777

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943
Omnia pro aegroto

Contact:
Helen Faria
478.757.9873
hfaria@mindspring.com

For release May 15, 2002:

MEDICAL JOURNAL EXPOSES CUBA’S BIOTERRORISM LINK

May Have Been Source of West Nile Virus, Producing Anthrax-Like Toxins

Washington -- Iraq may have unleashed the West Nile Virus in the United States via Cuba through the release of migratory birds infected with the virus, and may be producing antiobiotic-resistant toxins for future attacks, according to two articles published in The Medical Sentinel, The Official Journal of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (Volume 6, Number 4).

In the first, "West Nile Virus - Is Castro’s Bioterrorism Threat Being Ignored," author Ernesto F. Betancourt, Castro’s Washington Representative in the ‘50s and former Director of Radio Marti, outlines the possible Cuba-Iraq link.

He cites ornithologist, Carlos Wotzkow, who was fired from Cuba’s Institute of Zoology after objecting to the creation of the "Biological Front," an effort to develop viruses that could be carried by host birds or other means into the U.S.

A second article, "Cuba, Castro and Bioterrorism," by Agustín Blazquez, a documentary producer, outlines his claims that "... we clearly see that Castro has used this time to develop weapons of mass destruction in our backyard to be used against us."

Mr. Blazquez cites a previously ignored paper by Dr. Manuel Cereijo, a professor at Florida International University. "In 1992, the [Castro-controlled] Institute of Oceanographic Studies conducted an experiment with the Academy of Sciences to find out which places on the Cuban coast were the best to let bottles and containers reach the United States coast line fastest and most effectively," writes Dr. Cereijo. Further, Dr. Cereijo claims that there are at least 12 Cuban centers producing bacteriological agents located around Havana, and that the U.S. government has had knowledge of these capabilities. He describes the newest and most notorious, La Fabriquita ("Little Factory") located across the street from the former Naval Hospital. Disguised as an "Animal Feed Plant," one must pass through a station of the Cuban Armed Forces to enter. Dr. Cereijo believes the plant has the capability to produce A-232, an agent more toxic that previous nerve agents, and that La Fabriquita could be producing an anthrax-like toxin totally resistant to antibiotics. Concludes Mr. Blazquez, "The blackmail potential that this represents renders the U.S. and its people in grave danger and in an almost impotent situation."

Other Links

I was walking out of Wal-Mart about a month or so ago and saw a newspaper with a headline about two blue jays in Ascension Parish having West Nile virus. I didn't think much about it and didn't buy the paper.

The next day as I was moving from my apartment, I nearly ran over a bird with my dolly. The bird flapped up to a branch, but when I turned to look at it, I could see it was in trouble. It was a pretty little loggerhead shrike, but it was clearly dying.

I called the non-emergency sheriff's number. The dispatcher said that it should be reported but that the sheriff's office doesn't handle it. I tried one public health number and got a message saying something about someone not setting up an answering machine. I tried another number of another bureaucracy, and they told me to call the number of the place with the messed up message. When I told the lady I had already tried that number, she called them herself and finally got through. I called again and got someone.

When I spoke to the lady and told her about the bird, she informed me that "we are only interested in birds of prey." I told her that's exactly what a shrike is. I asked what she thought that meant. She said that they were thinking it was hawks, crows, and blue jays. I told her that shrikes eat as many animals as blue jays do. She said that if I could find a reference that told that a shrike was a bird of prey, they could test it.

The bird hadn't died yet, but I took my Sibley's Guide to Birds to the health department. After a five or ten minute wait, they let me speak to an "inspector." The clerk had tried to copy the necessary pages, but the copier didn't work. The inspector agreed that a shrike would qualify and said that she hadn't been told exactly what species qualified. She said that the test works better on some species than others. She told me that they could only take a freshly dead bird. They couldn't take it if it were still alive. If it died, they could only take it if it were frozen soon after death. This was a Friday, and I certainly wasn't going to keep a dead bird in my freezer all weekend. She said many people felt that way.

The poor bird at least had the good grace to die before the office closed. I wrapped it in plastic and took it to them. They told me that they would call in about a week if the test were positive. I asked what I should do if it were. They said that I didn't need to do anything and that they just need to track this stuff.

I went away feeling more persuaded that government doesn't work. If these people were really interested in doing the survey and understanding results, I think they would find a way to collect birds over the weekend. I also think that someone should have sent a list of birds and an identification guide to the health departments. I don't expect this woman to know birds, but someone should have told her what was needed.

WFTR
Bill

Anyone here for DDT as a solution?

Hatfill just took a job down in Lousiana. Has Barbra Nuthatch pinned this outbreak on him yet?

I've found dead birds in my yard here in Mobile. Last week I found a dove and a bluejay. I was cutting the grass yesterday and was bitten by mosquitos four different times. How long before I die? (That was a joke, I do take this serious).

A blue jay is a bird of prey? What do they prey on? What about hummingbirds? I have lots of those and eastern blue birds.

BTW, I have lots of midges (no-see-ums) around here too. Can they transmit WNV too?

Anyone here for DDT as a solution?

I've been trying to get people to see through the DDT delusion for years:

DDT is safe: just ask the professor who ate it for 40 ...
... DDT is safe: just ask the professor who ate it for 40 years Culture/Society Editorial
Editorial Source: The Telegraph (UK) Published: 07/19/2001 Author ...

Banning DDT to control global population [Free Republic]
... Banning DDT to control global population Government Front Page News Source: ECO-LOGIC
-----ON-LINE---- Published: Jan/15/2001 Author: Paul K. Driessen Posted ...

Bring back DDT [Free Republic]
... Bring back DDT Culture/Society Editorial Source: Jewish World Review Published: April
24 2001 Author: Betsy Hart Posted on 04/24/2001 06:02:38 PDT by SJackson. ...

Audubon's Fly-by-Night Pesticide Campaign [Free Republic]
... 30 years after its successful — but untruthful — campaign against the insecticide
DDT, the Audubon Society is targeting lawn chemicals used to control grubs ...

CENTER NAMES TEN TOP SCARE CAMPAIGNS THREATENING [Free ...
... The Banning of DDT is first on the list of the Center’s Chicken Little Awards, largely
due to the alarmist, false writings of Rachel Carson. "The sole purpose ...

Killing Mosquitoes Or Killing Humans? [Free Republic]
... long since been proven wrong. By way of just one example, she claimed that DDT spraying
could wipe out the US robin population. Instead, it actually increased ...

Billions Served (benefits of biotechnology the Greens won't ...
... Of course. This is a negative effect. We always have this. Take the case of DDT.
When it was banned here in the US and the European countries, I testified ...

Scams, Scalawags, and an all-too-gullible Public...famous frauds sold to America

Bring Back DDT, and Save Lives from the Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2000.

Bring back DDT, Jewish World Review, April 24, 2001.