West Nile virus: a public health crisis.

• Author: Logomasini, Angela
• Position: Science & Technology - Cover Story - Cover Story

PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS can only hope that this summer doesn't see a repeat of last year's West Nile virus outbreak, which was the largest in recorded history. More than 4,000 people became seriously ill, leading to brain damage and paralysis for some; nearly 300 died; and the virus was even transmitted via blood transfusions and breast milk. After making its first appearance on North America in New York City during 1999, the virus had appeared in all but seven of the 50 states by the end of 2002. Wildlife also has suffered, with tens of thousands of birds, including endangered species at zoos, falling victim to the illness.

The virus is transmitted to humans and wildlife by infected mosquitoes. As infected birds migrate, they transmit the virus to other mosquitoes, enabling the virus to invade new territories.

Some environmental groups have suggested that Americans don't need to worry about the disease or its rapid spread. According to the New York Green Party, it is not much of a concern because "these diseases only kill the old and people whose health is already poor." West Nile is not serious because it merely killed seven individuals in 1999, another activist told the Ottawa Citizen in 2000. After all, more people die of the flu, he argued.

It is true that far more people die of the flu. It is true as well that people should not panic about West Nile and that it mostly affects the elderly, infirm, and young children. Nevertheless, does that mean we shouldn't be concerned enough to reduce risks to our parents, ill friends, and offspring?

Apparently, environmental groups don't think so. They are working to undermine one of the key tools for controlling such outbreaks--pesticides. A coalition of groups have sued New York City for spraying pesticides because some of the chemicals could migrate into waters, which activists say constitutes an illegal discharge of pollution under the Federal Clean Water Act. They lost in the courts on this claim, but have appealed.

Groups are also pushing a no-spray agenda by spreading myths about the value and safety of pesticides. According to the No Spray Coalition, pesticides are "not safe" for humans, and they have health consequences for "lobsters, honey bees, butterflies, frogs, and the water supply." Moreover, according to Laurel Hopwood of the Sierra Club, "spraying doesn't work." At least that is what she told public officials at a town council meeting in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in 2002.

Kathleen McGee, coordinator of the Maine Toxics Action Coalition, claimed in Maine's Kennebec Journal: "Research at the University of Florida suggests that spraying mosquitoes with pesticides for West Nile can actually increase its spread. The pesticide can genetically alter mosquitoes that are sprayed but not necessarily killed, making the mosquito more susceptible to the virus and changing how the mosquito transmits the disease."

Walter Tabachnick, director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, which is part of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, says McGee's claim is a "baseless falsification" of the university's research. He has publicly refuted it, but activists continue to use it nonetheless.

The result of such campaigns is that some officials decide not to spray, either accepting environmentalist claims or because they would rather not face fierce criticism from activists. In Shaker Heights, Ohio, officials decided not to spray this year because one of them bought the environmentalist line, explaining "it is just not clear whether it is effective or not."

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