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The 1996-97 outbreak of West Nile fever in and near Bucharest, Romania, with more than 500 clinical cases and a case-fatality rate approaching 10% (1-3), was the largest outbreak of arboviral illness in Europe since the Ockelbo-Pogosta-Karelian fever epidemic caused by Sindbis virus in northern Europe in the 1980s

Thank you for the information. The Romania case seems to be the most serious outbreak of the West Nile virus in a climate comparable to the U.S. climate. Romania is 91,725 square miles, approximately the size of Oregon. If the West Nile virus had been spread across the entire European continent in three years then our current experience would not be unique, however, it did not.

There is little question that West Nile is a naturally occurring virus. The unproven suggestion is that an enemy may have intentionally spread the West Nile virus in the U.S., since there are no historical precedents for a mosquito-borne virus to completely cover the U.S. in three years. Of course there is a first time for everything.

I am not convinced that established migratory bird patterns support the spread in three years, absent intervention. For example, birds do not migrate from New York to Oregon.