Doctors link polio to West Nile virus

Boston Globe ^ | September 24, 2002 | Stephen Smith

[sarcasm]

In case reports released yesterday, stunned neurologists in Mississippi and Georgia describe the conditions of four patients suffering from the hobbled limbs, impaired breathing, and fevers that are the hallmark of polio, a disease essentially eradicated in the United States.

[Heartlander2]

You mention Ramadam in your message regarding his report on Saddam's labs -- here is a link to a story titled "West Nile Mystery" that appeared in New Yorker in 1999 by Robert Preston (remember "The Hot Zone"?). The article relays ramadan's story... worth the read. According to the story, Saddam's remake of the West Nile Virus causes a 97% fatality rate.

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/artwestnilenewyorker.htm

[backhoe]

Locator bttt^

[Mitchell]

Thanks very much for the link to the Preston article. I didn't know that that article was on-line; I had only checked the New Yorker web site for it, without success.

[meadsjn]

Water also plays a role in West Nile--as the breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry it.

There have been no less than a half dozen stories since 9/11 of middle-eastern tourists caught on or near reservoirs taking pictures, and then being released.

[Amelia]

I've been wondering for a while if West Nile might be bioterror. Showed up unexpectedly, spreading so rapidly...

[syriacus]

There have been no less than a half dozen stories since 9/11 of middle-eastern tourists caught on or near reservoirs taking pictures, and then being released.

True. I remember thinking, when they were found near some of the bodies of water, that maybe they were poisoning the water or planning to release the water. Maybe they were spreading West Nile somehow.

[meadsjn]

I'm not sure whether mosquito eggs are clustered in the early stages, but there should be some freepers with some bug expertise.

It seems logical that getting contaminated insect eggs into the country would be much easier than smuggling insects. Getting vials of contaminated blood in would be even easier, then using the blood to feed the developing critters somehow. It probably wouldn't even require highly trained people, just "mix this with the eggs and drop it in the water".

With the flu season approaching, every sympathizer will be going to further extremes to discount every reported "unrelated" incident.

[jcmfreedom]

What you say makes sense. It's also very alarming. If we have been struck by a super bioweapon, this is just the beginning. We will be struck by something else. Catch us by surprise. If the people of the U.S. knew that we have already been attacked, we would be bombing Iraq yesterday with the support of the world.

[jcmfreedom]

I am beginning to think there is a massive coverup going on....somebody knows something!

[Nebullis]

In defense of the docs, you spend all day long dealing with "horses" so I wouldn't be too hard on them when they don't immediately notice the "zebras" that show up very rarely.

Differentials are all about probabilities, true. But in this case, it's well known that horses show paralysis from WNV.

[blam]

"I am beginning to think there is a massive coverup going on....somebody knows something!"

I agree.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

A life cycle is a description of how a mosquito matures from an egg to a biting adult. The life cycle is important because it gives you the clues to controlling mosquito populations.

The life cycle of the mosquito can take as little as one week or as long as two weeks. During that time a mosquito egg will go through a number of changes. The rate of change to an adult or maturation depends upon many factors. Those factors are usually environmental.

Mosquito have what is known as "complete metamorphosis" which means they go through 4 distinct stages of development. Those stages are egg….larval….pupa….and adult.

Generally a mosquito egg remains in this stage for 1 to 2 days…

 

..a mosquito larval stage 5 to 10 days…

.a mosquito pupa stage 1 to 2 days….

 

An adult mosquito can live from a few days to a number of weeks before dying

It is important to understand each of these mosquito stages if you are to be successful in controlling mosquito populations.

This is important because many control agents and methods only work with specific stages of mosquito development. It is important to be able to identify mosquito stages to successfully control mosquito populations. Using a control agent will have no effect on mosquitoes unless it is in a particular stage of development.

Another reason to understand how a mosquito transforms from an egg to an adult is the role of temperature. The warmer the temperature the faster adults develop. In the early spring you might see an adult population rising in a 12 day cycle. The cool air temperature and wastewater temperatures will reduce the time it takes for a generation of mosquitoes to maturate from an egg to adult. Cool temperatures may also effect the survival rate of mosquito larva. As summer becomes hotter, the mosquito becomes more successful in producing large numbers of off spring.

The faster each generation is produced, the more adults are available to lay new egg rafts. Recognizing the role that temperature plays in mosquito breeding. While swimming larva may slowly develop into pupa and adults in fall…..in mid summer a complete generation of adults may populate the environment.  Millions of adults may survive to generate swarms of new off spring within a couple of weeks.

Mosquitoes need to obtain "what is called - a bloodmeal" to produce off spring. This bloodmeal commonly known as the "mosquito bite" can be provided by a number of mammals or birds. When a mosquito bites a host it mixes some of its saliva with the host's blood to prevent clotting.

[Boomer Geezer]

The New England Journal of Medicine released the articles on the polio link nearly a month before their scheduled publication, an unusual step reserved for reports of urgent medical importance. The doctors who wrote the articles said yesterday they believe it is vital that their findings circulate among physicians because some of the patients they treated had been misdiagnosed and prescribed treatments that could have been life-threatening.

When I first read this paragraph I got a dreadful chill. Two days later, there was this post on FR: Smallpox Planning Changes: Bush Administration Prepares to Offer Vaccine to Public

Now I'm not a medical researcher, not a biology expert, know nothing of WMD or such like. But reading through the posts on this thread, and remembering the previous one I linked to above, methinks someone knows something, but is not spilling the beans. Could these be "arranged" leaks to the media and through the medical community, to help lessen the shock to the public when something really big breaks?

I know we have a lot of individuals on FR who are experts in these disciplines; do I just have my Reynolds Wrap too tight, or do others sense an uneasiness on how these stories are developing?

[Mo1]

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[Boomer Geezer]

"I am beginning to think there is a massive coverup going on....somebody knows something!"

I agree.

Yikes, I should have scrolled down further before posting my reply (although I've been around FR for a long time I haven't done tons of rapid postings). So I guess there are at least two others here who are thinking along the lines that I am.

Again, I'm not an expert in these areas, but someone suggested that the polio virus could be "piggy backed", somehow, in the WNV; could it be conceivable to "piggy back" multiple biologic agents on the WNV, or am I really getting paranoid?

[blam]

"Again, I'm not an expert in these areas, but someone suggested that the polio virus could be "piggy backed", somehow, in the WNV; could it be conceivable to "piggy back" multiple biologic agents on the WNV, or am I really getting paranoid?

That does seem to be the implication. They used (our) planes to bring down the WRC, why not use the birds to spread multiple diseases around the country. I believe we are already under bio attack.

[CJ Wolf]

Well, they might be clinging the anthrax from drinking from a wooded stream in NC story...

[blam]

Worthy of your terror files?

[backhoe]

Yes, indeed... West Nile, Malaria, Uranium slugs- it's heating up fast!

Seen these?

All Terror, All the Time-- FR's links to NBC Warfare, Terror, and More...

[Paladin2]

If this diagnosis issue in some/many cases can be so complex that many/any individual doc's can't sort it out (and I believe that this could easily be the case), why are expert systems not developed, widely distributed, and consulted on a regular basis?