What is it with West Nile Virus and crows? Don’t mosquitoes bit any other birds, like pigeons?
I didn’t even know what it is until I looked it up;
Where does it say that the vector is limited to crows?
Peace,
mangeorge
Crows are more susecptible to it because they eat dead flesh which harbors infected mosquito larva.
Uhhh, I’d like to see a cite for that, considering the fact that mosquito larvae mature in pools of stagnant water…
That’s totally false. The virus is passed by the bite of the adult mosquito. As Smeghead says, mosquito larvae have nothing to do with dead flesh.
West Nile Virus seems to show up in crows most frequently because they are unusually susceptible to it, not necessarily because they are exposed to it more. The link mentions that, although the disease is usually transmitted through the bite of a mosquito, direct crow-to-crow transmission has recently been demonstrated.
No doubt brachyrhynchos will be along soon to elaborate.
Here is more information about West Nile Virus. A man in Atlanta recently died from it. People also contract it from infected mosquitos (not from birds, horses, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, and rabbits that are also affected by it). It’s still a very rare disease in the US (just apparently having arrived in 1999). It’s a flavivirus like Japanese encephalitis, so I’m hoping there will be a vaccine against it in the not-too-distant future.
[Edited by JillGat on 08-31-2001 at 11:07 PM]
Mangeorge, the news is always quoting stats on dead crows found with West Nile Virus…hence, the origin of my question. Thanks for the website tip…
- Jinx