----- Original Message -----
From: spiker
To: Recipient list suppressed
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2001 5:38 PM
Subject: West Nile virus found in SE Michigan

Source:
Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/

West Nile virus here; officials say don't panic
Danger to humans downplayed but precautions are stepped up

http://www.freep.com/news/health/virus24_20010824.htm

August 24, 2001

BY WENDY WENDLAND-BOWYER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The West Nile virus has officially arrived in southeast Michigan, but keep
it in perspective, officials urged Thursday.

While the rare deaths from the virus have grabbed headlines elsewhere, most
people who catch this virus will not have any symptoms.

"We are not in a situation where we should be panicked about the risk to
human health," said Dr.
David Johnson, chief medical executive at the Michigan Department of
Community Health. "The likelihood that someone would contract West Nile
infection is small."

Johnson and other officials announced Thursday that dead crows found in
Royal Oak, Clinton Township and Windsor carried the virus. Their next step
is determining how widespread the virus is in the mosquitoes that carry it,
infecting birds, horses and people.

The virus is most common in summer and fall. Johnson said he doubts that
any Michiganders will be infected this year.

The Macomb County Health Department plans to set up about 20 mosquito traps
around 19 Mile and Garfield, where one dead crow was found.

Oakland County officials declined to say exactly where the Royal Oak bird
was found but said they plan to employ 20 traps in the Royal Oak area.

Since crows travel great distances, but mosquitoes tend to live their lives
in the same place, neither Michigan nor Ontario officials plan drastic
measures such as widespread spraying until they know whether many bugs are
carrying the virus.

"We have to try to find the population of infected mosquitoes that caused
the bird to die," said Gord Haugh, press secretary for the Ontario Minister
of Health. "It could be on either side of the border."

Thursday's announcement that the West Nile virus had officially reached
Michigan followed a similar report out of Indiana.

Some parts of the country have reported dozens of infected birds this
year. Washington, D.C., for example, reported 46.

Any find is significant because up until the summer of 1999 there had been
no documented cases of West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere. West
Nile virus had been known to exist only in Africa, the Middle East, Europe
and the eastern parts of Asia.

But since the summer of 1999, when it was found in New York City, the virus
has spread across the United States, being reported in Florida, Georgia,
Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia. So far, it has claimed 10 lives,
the most recent a 71-year-old Georgia woman earlier this month.

Michigan health officials are working with doctors in emergency rooms and
hospitals, testing samples from people who appear to have West Nile
virus-like symptoms. So far all samples have been negative.

The state is also monitoring horses in 32 counties, since horses have been
found to be susceptible to the virus. So far, none have tested positive.

In Royal Oak, Department of Public Service workers began looking for and
eliminating standing water in public parks Thursday, said Mayor Dennis Cowan.

City officials also will alert all senior citizen facilities, since people
age 50 and older are at the greatest risk.

Residents anywhere in Michigan are urged to report all dead crows to a
state hot line. As of Thursday,
102 birds had been sent in, but about 25 percent were too decomposed to
use. Test results in 12 were forwarded to federal labs because results
were inconclusive. Of the 12, seven appeared negative, two positive and
test results are not yet back for the remaining three.

Jon Patterson, associate professor at Michigan State University's Animal
Health Diagnostic Laboratory and Department of Pathology, which is doing
Michigan's bird testing, said he expects the results to be negative. The
birds were collected from Dearborn and Kalamazoo and Ingham counties.

Contact WENDY WENDLAND-BOWYER at: 313-223-4792 or wendland@freepress.com.
Staff writers Joel Thurtell and Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki contributed to this
report.