[EggsAckley]

I keep waiting to hear just what insecticide they have found to kill the offending mosquitos. Lots of locales this summer seem to NOT be doing abatement.

[bonesmccoy]

Recent experience reported by CDC

Analysis of avian morbidity and mortality data in 2000 indicated:

American crow was the most sensitive species for avian morbidity/mortality surveillance. However, some areas, particularly those distant from NYC, did not have positive American crows, but only positive birds of other species.

Almost all of the positive birds were found singly and not as part of a mass die-off in a single time and place.

Approx. a third of positive birds had signs of trauma on necropsy.

Many positive birds did not have pathology indicative of West Nile infection on necropsy. No lesions are pathognomonic for WN virus infection.

Positive dead birds usually provided the earliest indication of viral activity in an area.

Detection of positive dead birds always preceeded reporting of human cases.

Counties with human cases tended to have high dead bird surveillance indices, both West Nile positive and sightings.

[Carry_Okie]

Environmental fraud goes back a very long way. The sad fact is that the use of DDT increased bird populations across the board. Here are Audubon Society bird counts for the period between 1941 and 1961:

Audubon Society
Christmas Bird Count Data
1941 (2,331 Observers)
vs. 1960 (8,928 Observers)
Species	Count			Count/Observer		Ratio/Observer
	1941	1960		1941	1960		1960/1941
Eagle	197	891		0.08	0.10		1.18
Gull	124,470	635,642		53.40	71.20		1.33
Raven	667	2,669		0.29	0.30		1.04
Crow	185,519	250,307		79.59	28.04		0.35
Quail	2,060	10,276		0.88	1.15		1.30
Pheasant	6,839	19,731		2.93	2.21		0.75
Mounring Dove	7,411	72,958		3.18	8.17		2.57
Swallow	14,347	242,303		6.15	27.14		4.41
Grebe	2,501	27,826		1.07	3.12		2.90
Pelican	4,450	10,562		1.91	1.18		0.62
Cormorant	3,246	27,162		1.39	3.04		2.18
Heron	2,254	16,253		0.97	1.82		1.88
Egret	1,469	16,800		0.63	1.88		2.99
Swan	18,554	33,994		7.96	3.81		0.48
Goose	182,820	696,777		78.43	78.04		1.00
Ducks	2,137,093	2,739,517		916.81	306.85		0.33
Balckbird	137,502	20,552,375		58.99	2,302.01		39.02
Grackle	24,937	12,570,458		10.70	1,407.98		131.61
Cowbird	40,019	3,286,314		17.17	368.09		21.44
Chickadee	21,330	55,906		9.15	6.26		0.68
Titmouse	5,038	18,268		2.16	2.05		0.95
Nuthatch	4,214	13,439		1.81	1.51		0.83
Robin	19,616	928,639		8.42	104.01		12.36
English Sparrow	53,335	358,769		22.88	40.18		1.76
Bluebird	3,742	6,903		1.61	0.77		0.48
Starling	211,836	8,673,095		90.88	971.45		10.69
Sources:	42nd Christmas Bird Count			Audubon Magazine, 1942
	61st Christmas Bird Count			Audubon Field Notes, 15, 1961

Thanks to Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, Professor Emeritus of Entomology
at San Jose State University, for providing this information.

[backhoe]

Whatever they use here in south Georgia for foggers seems only to enrage the bugs- they spray constantly and might as well not bother. There is an answer, of course:

West Nile Virus- Bring Back DDT?

BTW, I ran across this odd data:

The Iraqi connection
Telegragh:Iraq's chemists bought anthrax from America

Link

Link

Link

West Nile virus confirmed in Chicago burbs

Salman Pak: In 1985, the CDC sent three shipments of West Nile Fever virus to Iraq for use in medical research. Valerie Kuklenski, "Western Firms Supplied Iraq with Chemical Weapons," UPI, October 2, 1990.