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You may be right about the past mis-diagnosis but I don't think you can find facts to support your theory of an increase in international travel. Nor does you immunity theory hold a great deal of water, if what you say is true we would only ever have one cold, one bout of flue and herpes sufferers would never have flare ups.

But my original point was that it is conceivable that Iraq has the wherewithal to spread the disease, and guess what, it is spreading. So we should at least consider the possibility that the alarming increase could be linked to malicious action, just as the sniper could possibly be a terrorist - that's all

Nor does you immunity theory hold a great deal of water, if what you say is true we would only ever have one cold, one bout of flue and herpes sufferers would never have flare ups.

There are actually 210 different viruses that produce symptoms along the lines of what we generally call "the common cold" (my information may be a little dated here). If you caught an average of two colds per year for your entire life, you'd theoretically never catch a cold after the age of 105.

I don't know enough about herpes to explain the issue of "flaring up," but you have to remember that someone who is infected with a virus is never "cured" -- the body simply develops a resistance to it. "Flaring up" is probably nothing more than a virus showing recurring symptoms during times when the body is under some kind of duress (I think the disease called shingles is similar to this). When you show cold symptoms, you aren't showing the direct impact of the virus itself -- you're showing the body's reaction to the virus in an attempt to suppress it.

The other difference between West Nile Virus and a sniper attack is that there isn't a heck of a lot that can be done to deal with the virus, except to work toward developing some kind of innoculation.

So we should at least consider the possibility that the alarming increase could be linked to malicious action . . .

Certainly worth thinking about. I can't imagine how anyone would be able to determine the source of West Nile, though. Now you've given me one more thing to worry about. LOL.