West Nile Virus part two
West Nile Virus part 3

I have college degrees in Entomology and Environmental Health. I have been an avid collector of insects for 34 years, and deeply enjoy the time I am able to spend working in a local University insect museum. I am absolutely fascinated by insects and other arthropods and am pleased whenever I can pass this enjoyment on to others, such as those who are lucky enough to find our website - BugInfo.com - and the wealth of information we hope to offer on it.

Insects are wonderful things, with respect to their beauty and the reliance all of nature has on insects for the proper flow of natural environments. However, there is a dark side to insects too, and we absolutely MUST understand the ability many of them have to cause us harm. Only by educating ourselves with the facts can we make the proper decisions on how to proceed with avoiding the problems. There are many "urban legends" out there that we read about, and wonder whether or not they are true. If we are swayed to believe things that are not true we may be led to take action by demanding a response that is not warranted.

Mosquitoes and Disease

Of all the insects that are destructive to humans none is worse than the mosquito. Among the various diseases spread by mosquitoes is Malaria, which kills two to three million people each year in the world at this time. Yellow Fever and Dengue are two more devastating mosquito-borne diseases. Yet another disease spread by these critters is Encephalitis, actually a compilation of around 7 or 8 strains of viruses that cause similar effects in infected people. Encephalitis is closely tied to birds, as it is in birds that the encephalitis virus must live for a period of its life cycle, and when mosquitoes then feed on infected birds they acquire the virus, which then can be passed to a person who is bitten.

The United States is not immune to the horrors of mosquitoes and their diseases, and many decades ago these diseases were quite common in this country. It has been through the diligent efforts of Mosquito and Vector Control Agencies and the pest control industry that we have beaten back the disease. We certainly have plenty of the species of mosquitoes that are capable of spreading any of the mosquito-borne diseases, but for the most part the disease agents themselves - the bacteria, viruses, or Plasmodium - have been kept out of the mosquito populations. Encephalitis is the exception, but careful monitoring around populated areas allows the mosquito control agencies to determine when infected mosquitoes are getting "too close", and they can proceed with intense mosquito control programs.

Now, however, there is a new player in the country, and this disease is called West Nile Virus, also referred to as West Nile Fever. This virus is believed to have originated in Africa, where it likely has existed for millions of years. For many years now it has caused infections and death in people in many African and Middle East countries, and in the past few years has been reported in Europe as well. Until 1999 it had never been reported in the Western Hemisphere (North America and South America), but that year it occurred in New York, causing the death of 7 people in the summer of 1999.

How did West Nile Virus get here?

As with anything new and frightening there already are extraordinary claims emerging about West Nile Virus, including that it is a government conspiracy or that it is a product of bio-terrorism. These kinds of scenarios are at best outrageous, and at their worst are criminal. There simply is no evidence whatsoever of such things, but it makes a lot of people feel better to be able to blame someone. The most reasonable explanation for the sudden emergence of this problem in the United States is the same reason we have so many other imported, exotic pests in this country - the world is getting "smaller". Human travel takes us everywhere in a very casual style, and the likelihood that we may bring things back in our suitcases or boxes of souvenirs is very high.

About 10 years ago a new mosquito species entered the U.S., called the Asian Tiger Mosquito. While it is not known with absolute certainty, it is believed it hitchhiked here in pools of water in tires that were brought here from Asia for recycling. West Nile Virus most likely came with infected mosquitoes that hitchhiked on airplanes or ships coming from Africa or another country where the disease already existed. Once in the population of people in the United States it was picked up by some of our native mosquito species, and now appears to be a permanent resident of this country.