West Nile Virus Season Has Begun
Health Officials Gear Up As West Nile Virus Begins Assault

May 19, 2003
Anita Manning, USA TODAY

Warm weather has barely touched some parts of the country, but the West Nile season already has begun.

Wild birds in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi, sentinel chickens in North Carolina and a horse in Minnesota have tested positive for the virus that blazed across the country last summer, causing the largest epidemic of West Nile virus ever recorded.

Health officials in Louisiana say two people are recovering from what may have been the first human cases of the disease this year.

These early reports don't bode well for the season ahead, scientists say.

''We don't know what this year will bring, but this is obviously not good news that we're seeing birds at so many locations and in so many different states,'' says epidemiologist Mike Bunning of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ''As far as this year goes, it doesn't look like West Nile virus is going to go away.''

State health departments have information on their Web sites on how people can protect themselves from the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes.

Horse owners, zoos and wildlife centers are immunizing exotic birds, raptors and other animals using an equine vaccine, and researchers are planning to test an experimental DNA vaccine for captive birds that might provide long-term immunity, says Pat Reddig, director of the University of Minnesota Raptor Center.

Clinical trials of a genetically engineered vaccine for humans could begin this summer. ''Depending on how serious the disease threat is, we'll try to move this along as fast as possible,'' says Tom Monath of Acambis, which is developing the vaccine.

Louisiana state epidemiologist Raoult Ratard says West Nile virus may have caused the illnesses of two people in the state. Tissue samples have been sent to the CDC for further testing and could be completed within a week.

West Nile virus first emerged in North America in summer 1999 in New York City. Carried by infected birds, it spread south and west in the following years. It exploded into an epidemic last year, when 4,156 people fell ill and 284 died.

In addition to the human toll, more than 14,000 horses and hundreds of thousands of birds died.

Among the people affected were recipients of organ transplants and blood transfusions, which alerted health officials to the fact that the virus can be passed through blood. The virus also was detected in breast milk. ''We are now looking at pregnancy for possible other'' effects of West Nile, including harm to the developing fetus, Bunning says. ''We're still finding out new things about West Nile virus.''

Because the virus can be transmitted through blood, national blood banks will begin screening donations in July, using two experimental tests.

In the meantime, the Food and Drug Administration recommends postponing for 28 days blood donations from anyone who has had a fever with headache in the week before attempting to donate.

''We're trying to see if we can minimize the risk,'' says Karen Shoos Lipton, CEO of the American Association of Blood Banks. Some donors can carry the West Nile virus without showing symptoms. ''Unfortunately, it's about all we can do at this point.''

What role the weather will play on mosquitoes is not clear.

''I've heard people say the East Coast is going to be worse because of the wet weather, and some people say the Midwest is going to be worse because of the drought,'' says Emi Saito of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.

''Who knows? We can only hope it's not going to be as bad as last year,'' she says.

''But the take-home message is to be prepared.''

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