[pocat]

Thanks, but I believe my chances of being struck by lightning are much greater than contracting West Nile virus.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is SOMETHING behind all of this media hype. Is the CDC up for a congressional funding review or something?

In the meantime, people are freaking out everywhere. My neighbors won't let their daughter outside to play with my daughter after 3pm, because they're petrified by the media-driven hysteria.

[backhoe]

Well, the Media's doing what it always does- hype a story so you'll sit still between commercials and see the ads...

West Nile is not a particularly virulent bug for most people, and indeed, if you live in 'skeeter country- like we do- you may well have already been exposed. I would not, however, dismiss utterly the idea that it may have been deliberately introduced to study how well & far it vectors.