West Nile Virus Survived Winter; Expected Back For Summer

(AP) – Scientists say the West Nile virus has survived the winter and will be a threat in the warmer months, the Connecticut Post reported Tuesday.

A red-tailed hawk found last month in New York’s Westchester County died of the virus, according to tests.

And culturing of mosquito RNA found in Queens, N.Y., in January and February has yielded living West Nile virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“It’s no longer speculation,” said Duane Gubler, director of the CDC’s vector-borne disease program. “There likely will be transmission in the spring. It’s a very strong likelihood the virus will persist.”

The CDC has urged several states to develop larvicide and monitoring programs.

The infected hawk found February 6 was tested at the Northeastern Research Center for Wildlife Diseases at the University of Connecticut. On March 4, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven verified the diagnosis.

Research center Director Herbert J. Van Kruiningen said the findings indicate another outbreak of West Nile this year.

He said the hawk might have been infected in late fall, before mosquitoes stopped flying; in midwinter, if a mosquito came out of hibernation; or by eating another infected animal.

Van Kruiningen suspects the hawk ate another infected animal, but he doesn’t know what species might be acting as a “reservoir” for the virus.

“It could be crows or backyard birds of another variety,” he said.

Birds themselves do not pose a threat to humans, but mosquitoes that feed on them could transmit the virus, which causes West Nile encephalitis. The disease can cause swelling of the brain and is sometimes fatal to humans.

Lt Gov M. Jodi Rell announced Monday the distribution of $500,000 worth of larvicide to 41 communities.

An outbreak last year of a West Nile-like encephalitis infected 62 people in New York, killing seven. No human cases of the virus were reported in Connecticut, but thousands of birds were killed in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.

At the time of the outbreak last fall, officials sprayed pesticides to try to kill mosquitoes.

Beginning next month, the state plans to distribute larvicide to try to kill mosquito larvae in 41 communities where indications of West Nile or eastern equine were found, as well as in all of Connecticut’s coastal communities, where mosquitoes are most likely to breed.

The West Nile virus was found in southwestern Connecticut last year, while EEE caused a scare in southeastern Connecticut in 1996.

Arthur J. Rocque, Jr, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, said testing this winter has not turned up any indication of the West Nile virus in hibernating mosquitoes in Connecticut. But he said environmental officials believe the larvicide is necessary to ward off another outbreak.

“There is no need to panic here – there really isn’t,” Rocque said. “What we need to do is to do this judiciously.”

Rocque said the DEP will contact town officials to distribute the larvicide and to offer technical assistance for its application. The larvicide, which comes in both granular and tablet form, will be deposited in breeding grounds for mosquitoes, such as catch basins.

The $500,000 in funding announced Monday is in addition to $1 million allocated in this year’s budget for the state’s overall mosquito management program.

Centers for Disease Control researchers announced last week that some hibernating mosquitoes in New York City are probably still carrying the West Nile virus. The CDC said it is unclear whether the virus will persist or pose a health hazard when mosquitoes become active this spring.