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- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Faced with more evidence that a
potentially lethal, mosquito-borne virus had survived the winter, health
authorities have ordered pesticide spraying to kill the insects in the
New York City area.
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- Health officials said on Monday night that the brain-swelling
West Nile Virus, never detected in the Western Hemisphere until it killed
seven people and sickened 62 others in the region last summer, had been
found in mosquitoes for the first time this year north and east of New
York City.
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- They also said two dead crows infected with the virus
had been found in the city borough of Staten Island and ordered ground-spraying
of pesticide there starting on Wednesday.
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- So far this year, no people have been found to have been
infected, but months ago health authorities began a ``Fight the Bite''
mosquito-awareness campaign in an effort to keep down the mosquito population
by attacking breeding sites.
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- The virus is spread to humans by the bite of an infected
mosquito, which itself had been infected by having bitten a bird that carried
the virus. A total of 32 mosquitoes and 25 birds with evidence of the virus
have been found in New York City and its suburbs this year, officials said.
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- The virus can cause potentially lethal brain diseases
such as encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), or meningitis (inflammation
of the lining of the brain and spinal cord). Symptoms of infection can
include high fever, headache and body aches, muscle weakness, loss of consciousness
or rash.
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- ``The city will carry out strategic ground-based adult
mosquito control in and around the areas of Staten Island where the virus
was detected to reduce the potential for human illnesses,'' New York City
Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said in a statement.
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- Ground spraying of pesticides began east of New York
City in suburban Suffolk County on Long Island on Monday night.
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- Cohen said the pesticide Anvil would be used on Staten
Island. Aerial spraying and ground spraying of the insecticide malathion
in New York City and its suburbs was controversial last year, with environmentalists,
community activists and many residents challenging the authorities' claims
that it was not harmful to humans.
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- In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
said it would review studies that suggested malathion has the potential
to cause cancer in humans, although it said the chemical probably was safe.
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- U.S. health authorities still do not know how the virus,
named after the region in Uganda where it was first isolated in 1937, was
introduced to the New York region. It could have been from an infected
bird that was imported or an infected human returning from a country in
Africa, southwestern Asia or the Middle East, where the virus is common.
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- _____
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- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000
From: Patricia Doyle
Subject: infected A. Japonicus New York
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- Hello Jeff: Thought I would send you my post on the
new finding, Aedes Japonicus in Armonk New York, infected with West Nile.
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- Patty
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- WNV found in Aedes Japonicus Armonk, New York
7-18-00
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- According to the Putnum County "The Journal News,"
West Nile virus was found in Aedes Japonicus trapped in Armonk.
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- The A. Japonicus is the most perfect vehicle to transmit
the West Nile Virus. It is a day feeder and more folks will be at risk
for a bite from an infected mosquisto.
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- According to the article, it was claimed that the Asian
mosquito came here in those ole tires from Asia. The ole tire excuse again?
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- A infected bath (with WNV) of Culex Pipens were found
in Suffolk County on Eastern Long Island, yesterday.
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- It looks like West Nile will make a come back and with
a vengence.
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