Media, establishment eat crow over West Nile spread
As you know, I’m in the habit of giving you frequent updates about the West Nile virus, a disease (actually a group of diseases) that has infected more than 16,000 Americans since 1999 and killed a third as many as have died so far in the Iraq war. Here’s the latest, with a short recap first.
West Nile is spread by mosquitoes, but CARRIED by birds. So far, nearly all of the emphasis in the media (and a good many of the studies) has been focused on the common crow as the primary West Nile carrier. Indeed, many of these raucous black birds have succumbed to the virus, and a vigilant public has reported hundreds, if not thousands, of the dead critters to state health departments in the last 6 years. Many of these corpses have tested positive for the virus.
However, crows aren’t the only birds West Nile infects – not by a long shot. Scientists have identified more than 200 avian species the virus can be carried by, according to the CDC. And one of those species is perhaps the most common (and certainly among the most beloved) of American birds: The robin.
According to some recent research, this red-breasted herald of the spring may be up to 40 TIMES as culpable in the spread of West Nile virus as the maligned crow. A recent Associated Press report summarized the findings of mosquito analysis conducted at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Those findings: That 40% of mosquitoes analyzed had fed on the blood of robins, while only 1% had dined on crows.
This study isn’t the only one of its kind, either. The AP story mentions some North Carolina State University research spanning 4 years and 3 states (New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee) that yielded similar data implicating the robin as a far more likely carrier of West Nile than the crow.
The AP piece cites at least one expert who is skeptical of this latest study’s conclusions. But it makes perfect sense to me. There are no doubt many times more robins than crows in the U.S. Also, they’re about one-tenth the size and weight of a crow – meaning it’d be a lot easier for people to overlook a dead robin on the roadside than a jet-black, 3-pound crow with wings spanning nearly 3 feet. Especially when the media has programmed people to be on the lookout for crows and not the 199 or so other species of birds that also carry the virus.
And speaking of birds and killer viruses, here’s another update for you
****************************************************
Winged migration – of death
The Asian “bird flu” is spreading, just as I predicted.
Investigators from Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture have confirmed that the deadly H5N1 virus that has already spread to humans (killing some of them) in an alarming number of cases in Asia has now killed hundreds of birds in one section of the former Soviet Union. According to the AP, in just the last few weeks, hundreds of chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks have perished in the lake-filled Novosibirsk region of Siberia.
So far, no human cases have been reported in the region. But I say it’s only a matter of time, since the death toll seems to be spreading in Asian nations Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and now Indonesia, which reported its first three human fatalities last month from the virus.
Back on June 14th, I wrote about the H5N1 virus’s transmission from poultry to migrating ducks and geese, which could easily bring the disease to these shores
Looks like that’s exactly what is happening in western China, where more than 5,000 wild birds have been killed off by the virus. Russia’s chief epidemiologist speculates that this is also how the deadly disease reached Siberia’s lake region.
I wonder how long before we see a mass avian die-off in nearby Alaska?
Watching out for the bird watchers,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
