Emerging Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism

Emerging Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism

10/13/2005

The first reported case of the West Nile virus in the United States was in June of 1999. It was reported that there was an abnormal increase of dead birds, mostly crows, in the New York City area. Some of the sick and dead birds were being sent to laboratories for analysis with the sick birds being released upon the health of the bird. The wildlife pathologists who studied the sick/dead animals could not identify a clear cause. By mid to late August several caged animals died on zoo property further intensifying the need for additional help to analyze the mysterious events of the past couple of months causing animals to die. Meanwhile in August a community hospital in Queens, N. Y. noticed an abnormal amount of encephalitis or meningitis cases in adults. The hospital requested assistance from stage government agencies to find the cause of the outbreak.

As a result of both incidences there were various veterinarian agencies investigating the outbreak in birds along with federal and local agencies researching the cause in human outbreaks to determine the type of virus infecting the organisms. Initially the two were not thought to be related but by early September there were indications from the NYC health department that the virus was due to a mosquito-born agent, which was later found to be the St. Louis virus. After becoming aware of the cause of the virus in humans, animal officials begun considering if the outbreaks of the virus in birds are related. There were conflicting reports as to the accuracy of the results due to insufficient laboratory capabilities. By the end of September with continuing research along with some new techniques being introduced, researchers along with the CDC concluded that the virus was not the St. Louis virus, but it was more closely resembled to a virus never before seen on the western hemisphere, the West Nile virus.

Many questions arose during the aftermath of the outbreak. Many people wanted to know if this was some sort of unnatural event such as an act of bioterrorism. The CIA