Word: nile
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Even for a disease that moves on wings--of birds and mosquitoes--the West Nile virus is spreading with remarkable speed. Three years after making its first U.S. appearance, in New York, it has spread to 33 other states. This year, after being largely confined to a thick band of East Coast states, the virus has swept rapidly west, reaching as far as South Dakota and Texas. Last week it struck with a vengeance in Louisiana, infecting at least 58 residents and killing four--prompting Governor Mike Foster to declare a statewide emergency...
...predicts that West Nile will continue its flight westward and eventually spread to every state, except maybe Hawaii and Alaska. Since there is no vaccine or treatment, the best protection is to stay indoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active, and douse exposed skin with insect repellent...
...shifting our main focus to mosquito surveillance." JAMES BUFORD, Washington D.C. Health Department director, on efforts to contain the spread of the skeeter-borne West Nile virus...
...Since West Nile first emerged on the U.S. scene in 1999 (previous cases had been documented in Africa, but never North America), the virus has been contained to the eastern U.S. This year, however, marks a southward shift from New York City's suburbs, where many previous infections had occurred: all five of the summer's fatal cases have been recorded in Louisiana. Many of the bugs appear to have headed south for the summer, in search of the water they crave and the moist, warm temperatures required for efficient breeding...
...containing DEET.) Towns and cities across the country are also waging war, showering pesticides and larvacides onto vulnerable areas and distributing informative pamphlets door-to-door. Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced the government was providing $10 million to study and fight the spread of West Nile virus, and scientists and researchers have descended on Louisiana, hoping to capture a few of the virulent bugs and root out more specifics on the disease...