West Nile Virus
“I first received calls about oddly sick crows in the New York City area the last week of August 1999. Several people called me about finding sick and unusually approachable crows, as well as an unusual number of dead crows. Finding dead birds (other than roadkills or window strikes) is unusual, as most sick birds seem to find some quiet and hidden place to die. Finding one dead crow doesn’t mean much, but finding several crows within a short period of time is highly unusual and indicates that something odd is going on.
I first suspected a poisoning event, especially since someone had been poisoning pigeons in Central Park just previous to the finding of dead crows. The state pathologist’s lab, however, got some of the dead crows and tested them for a number of things, but found no indication of pesticide poisoning. Instead, the symptoms were consistent with a viral infection. When I spoke with them in mid September they had sent samples to a lab in Colorado, but had not yet received the results.
At the same time the outbreak of “St. Louis encephalitis” was being reported in much the same areas where crows were being found dead. It seemed odd to me that crows would be dying from that disease, as most birds that are exposed to it get mildly sick, but do not die from it. A new disease of some other source of crow mortality made more sense.
On 23 September, the State of New York Department of Health released the information that several bird specimens from the NYC area had been diagnosed as being infected with a virus that most closely resembled West Nile virus. These birds included a crow from Westchester County, as well as birds from the Bronx Zoo. Exact connections between the birds and the human illnesses have been difficult to establish (as is to be expected).”…
“The 17 Dec 1999 issue of Science had two articles on West Nile. One [Lanciotti, R.S., et al. 1999. Origin of the West Nile Virus Responsible for an Outbreak of Encephalitis in the Northeastern United States. Science 286 (5448): 2333-2337] described the strain found in North America as matching a strain isolated from the brain of a dead “goose” in Israel in 1998 (no species given, nor any indication if it was a wild or domestic bird). The authors state “The WN virus could have entered the Western Hemisphere through a number of mechanisms, including travel by infected humans, imporation of illegal birds or other domestic pets, or unintentional introduction of virus-infected ticks or mosquitoes.”
_____________________
____________________________
Jerome M. Hauer – Director of BioPort/Emergent BioSolutions since 2004; Hauer had a significant role in the events of September 11. He became the first director of the New York City (Mayor Giuliani’s) Office of Emergency Management, a position created in 1996, 3 years after the first WTC bombing. During his tenure, Hauer organized the construction of the WTC7 Command post, begun in June of 1998, and directed the pesticide spraying for St. Louis encephalitis and/or West Nile Virus http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1999/09/19/1999-09-19_b_klyn__queens_get_2nd_dose_.html As a directing manager of Kroll (security), Hauer hired ‘Osama Bin Laden expert’ John O’Neill who started his new job on Sept.10 and died in the demolition on 9-11. Hauer is considered the nation’s leading expert on bioterrorism, and has himself contributed to work on bioweapons and is currently listed as a director of Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals in San Diego. [see blog article ‘Anti-Radiation Drugs’]
________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_of_the_West_Nile_virus_in_the_United_States
______________
“In 2002, West Nile virus spread westward. Activity was reported in all but six states (i.e., Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii) and triggered the largest human arboviral encephalitis epidemic in U.S. history. From June 10 to December 31, 2002, there were 4,156 cases of West Nile virus infection (including 284 deaths) reported in 39 states and the District of Columbia.2 Because of the increasing prevalence of West Nile virus, family physicians should have a solid understanding of the epidemiology, clues to early diagnosis, clinical implications, and preventive strategies in humans” http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0815/p653.html
2002 map of the states from CDC http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/Mapsactivity/surv&control02Maps_PrinterFriendly.htm
2003 WNV activity in the USA, yearly report : 9,862 cases, 264 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount03_detailed.htm
2004 WNV activity in the USA, CDC year report: 2539 cases, 100 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount04_detailed.htm
2005 WNV activity in the USA, yearly report : 3000 cases, 119 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount05_detailed.htm
2006 WNV activity in the USA, yearly report: 4,269 cases, 177 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount06_detailed.htm
2007 WNV activity in the USA, yearly report: 3,630 cases, 124 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount07_detailed.htm
2008 WNV activity in the USA, final report : 1,356 cases, 44 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount08_detailed.htm
2009 WNV activity in the USA, reported Dec.2009: 663 cases, 30 deaths http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&controlCaseCount09_detailed.htm
West Nile Pesticides
Synergistic ingredients:
Pesticide information http://daviswiki.org/West_Nile_Virus
“The pesticide mixture being used is an adulticide (kills adult mosquitoes) containing synthetic pyrethroids and Piperonyl Butoxide, or
PBO. Pyrethrins are found in the African flower Chrysanthemum cineriaefolium. They operate by blocking chemical signals in the nerve junctions of insects. PBO is a synergist that inhibits cytochrome P450, a class of enzymes that break down pesticides, thus increasing the effectiveness of low amounts of pyrethrins. It allows the pyrethrins to act longer inside the insects, but it is not itself a pesticide. For more information, see
The VCD FAQ. The name the district uses for the pesticide is “Evergreen 60-6.”
There is no such thing as a safe pesticide, however, synthetic pyrethroids are some of the safest insecticides. The pesticides being used will also degrade in the sunlight. Yet, if the pesticide reaches our waterways, it may have negative effects on the environment.
While they are considered safe for organisms living in the water column the toxicity of pyrethroids to sediment dwelling organisms is relatively unknown, with this precursory study showing negative results on an
indicator species for sediment toxicity. Here is a quote:
“About one-fifth of our Central Valley sediment samples are toxic to a standard testing species due to a class of pesticides no one has tested for before, for which there are little data on their toxicology when sediment-bound, and which are being promoted as an alternative to the increasingly restricted organophosphate insecticides…I don’t want to give the impression that pyrethroids are destroying the streams, since that has not yet been shown, but if we are serious about maintaining stream health, we have to consider the sediments and not limit our sampling just to the water above.”
Also, this study done after the spraying in Sacramento in 2005 shows that lingering
PBO increases the toxicity of existing pesticides in the environment, even while no detectable amount of pyrethrins from the mosquito spray could be found. Here is a quote:
“The research team found that the level of PBO from the mosquito spray was high enough to double the toxicity of pyrethroids already present – primarily bifenthrin, one of the more toxic chemicals of the group. PBO, when in a pesticide product, can increase pyrethroid toxicity tenfold or more, but to see even a doubling of toxicity due to PBO in creek waters was unexpected.” http://daviswiki.org/West_Nile_Virus
Leave a Reply