Sen. Patrick Leahy suggests possibility of terrorist link with West Nile virus should be explored
I think the Senator is getting a little paranoid personally.
For anyone who is worried about exposure to West Nile, remember that mosquitos generally feed only at dawn and dusk so avoiding being outdoors at those times should significantly reduce your risk.
Gee, of course my most brilliant post to date became hamster food (and apparently unedible at that 
). But dagnabbit, I made a cute little graph, so I’m posting again (the truncated version):
Ditto with West Nile no go as bioweapon.
The virus here in the western hemisphere is nearly identical with a strain that has been going around in Israel the past few years. This strain is a bit more virulent than some other outbreaks (worldwide rates vay between 3 and 15 percent). The first year here had mortality rates around 10 percent. This year, rates (as of a few days ago), vary between 0 and 33 percent (my graph). (So, yeah, there seems to be variability, not surprisingly related to some degree to N.) Note that above 30-some cases, the rates fall below 10 percent.
Great graph brachyrhynchos, thanks!
Now for another question: Have you heard of “polio-like” symptoms? Do you have any info?
I want to thank everyone for the information. I know there are lots of questions about this out there.
An article earlier this week said that up to 200,000 people had been exposed to WNV since 1999 when the first outbreak in Queens occured. That’s a big number but a very low percentage of the population. It’s not even 2% of the population of the New York area where it started not counting the rest of the country that it has spread to and this is after 3 years.
I hope I’m right in saying that this is a bird disease that us mammals are caught up in the fringe of. I wish the news coverage would pay more attention to what’s happening to the birds.
I know it’s big news when a person is sick and supposedly no one cares if a bird gets sick, but really, some of us do care. Plus, if I knew that a bunch of birds were dying in my neighborhood, I’d be paying more attention than just reading about some old man getting sick 10 miles from here.
So, protecting yourself with long clothing and not going out in the mornings and evenings and using repelant is good. But the things that will protect the birds and consequently slow the virus are getting rid of standing water, changing birdbaths often. Our city give tablets for where there is standing water. Kill mosquitoes, not just repel them. Destroy their breeding places. These actions will save the birds and save the people and other mammals in the process.
If I’m wrong, please correct me, but the focus on human cases by the media seems to me to miss the main problem with this virus.
Ok, down off my soapbox.
Jim
ProMed Ahead had a report about the polio-like symptoms. I had heard about weakness and paralysis being longterm aftereffects before, but never in terms of etiology. And the longterm effects are not pretty. In another thread, I had posted: …if you’re one of those that end up hospitalized, the outlook is not quite a bed of roses. This is an encephalitic disease, and the long-term morbidity is rather unpleasant “One-year follow-up of the 1999 New York patients by the New York City Department of Health found frequent persistent symptoms (fatigue, 67%; memory loss, 50%; difficulty walking, 49%; muscle weakness, 44%; and depression, 38%).”… Fortunately, it is fairly easy to avoid getting by following Lord Jim’s last post.
Amen. It’s concerned a lot of us, especially some of the more sensitive species, such as the Florida Scrub Jay and California Condor.
And know which species of mosquitoes to direct this toward. We have 64 species (linked earlier), many of which pose minor or no health threat. Some, like Toxorhynchites, may even be beneficial under certain circumstances. 
