- WASHINGTON, DC (ENS)
- Birds infected with West Nile Virus (WNV) are beginning to show up across
the East Coast again.
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- So far this year, the virus has cropped up in wildlife
in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and
Washington DC. Last year, the disease spread up and down the East coast
and out to the Midwest.
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- Health experts have said they expect WNV to continue
to spread rapidly.
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- Virginia has recorded two WNV infected birds this year,
with the first turning up April 8 in Arlington County - three months earlier
that the appearance of the state's first bird infection last year, when
the state logged 215 infected birds.
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- On May 13, Washington DC, which recorded 360 infected
birds last year, reported its first West Nile virus infected bird of the
year, found on May 1 about a block from the National Zoo. Zoos across the
country have been alarmed by the virus because it has claimed several dozen
captive birds at the Bronx Zoo in New York and at the Philadelphia Zoo.
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- After infected crows were found on the grounds of the
National Zoo last year, officials inoculated the zoo's zebras with an equine
vaccine that had just been made available. A spokesperson for the Bronx
Zoo says the vaccine is being tested on penguins and flamingos there.
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- The Washington DC area's only human West Nile infections
in 2001 were in Maryland, where there were six cases and two fatalities.
Both deaths were of people suffering from other maladies.
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- Maryland so far has had no reports of infected birds.
Last year, Maryland's first infected birds were reported in May, and the
state recorded a total of 454 WNV birds.
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- New York's first infected bird showed up in Albany on
May 16. Three infected birds have been found in New Jersey, said Douglas
Guthrie, superintendent for the state's mosquito commission.
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- "The findings tend to be earlier this year than
years past but we've not really figured out exactly why," Guthrie
said. "I think perhaps that mosquitoes are out earlier this year because
we've had warmer weather. But also, this is the fourth year of dealing
with West Nile virus and our surveillance is more refined. We're getting
information sooner."
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- West Nile Virus, which first appeared in the United States
in New York City in 1999, is not dangerous to most humans. In some infirm
or elderly people, though, it can cause a sometimes fatal encephalitis.
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- Birds, particularly crows, have been the chief victims
of the virus, for reasons that scientists do not yet understand. The mortality
rate for infected crows still is about 97 per cent, experts say. Raptors,
blue jays and other types of birds are also affected, as are horses.
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