Posted on 08/10/2002 5:27:34 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:38:52 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
LOL. Not only that, but it will start to sting after a while. Tomato juice is very acidic.
Hey, does anybody think this virus is really the beginning of the Bureau of the Social Security Bounty Hunters. Just kiddding.... Do I get an honorary tin foil hat award, though?
Even I am prone to a bit of panic with the constant drumbeat of "The Year of the Mosquito." LOL!
The fruit flies will thank you.
What about my 86-year old mother?
Either option is bad news for the rest of us.
Did Louisiana start to use DDT again? They were thinking about it last January.
Louisiana considers DDT (January, 2002, Environment & Climate News)
A Louisiana state senator is calling for the use of DDT to combat an outbreak of encephalitis that has infected 64 people and claimed three lives in northern Louisiana.Encephalitis is spread when mosquitoes bite infected birds and then transmit the virus to humans and horses.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported Sen. Noble Ellington (D-Winnsboro) is urging state health officials to ask federal environment officials about getting a waiver to use DDT against encephalitis-bearing mosquitoes. Federal law allows a waiver for the use of banned chemicals, although no waivers have been given for DDT since it was banned in the U.S. in 1972.
Even if Louisiana could get a waiver for DDT, the state would have difficulty getting the chemical. Because of the U.S. ban, it is now manufactured only in foreign countries.
I wondered about this, too. Could international passengers (or their luggage) from Romania, the Congo, the Czech Republic, or Russia to JFK have carried infected mosquitos to NY? There are plenty of marshy areas around JFK.
Google-Cached web page from the CDC
Introduction: West Nile (WN) virus has emerged in recent years in temperate regions of Europe and North America, presenting a threat to public, equine, and animal health. The most serious manifestation of WN virus infection is fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in humans and horses, as well as mortality in certain domestic and wild birds.History: West Nile virus was first isolated from a febrile adult woman in the West Nile District of Uganda in 1937. The ecology was characterized in Egypt in the 1950s. The virus became recognized as a cause of severe human meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and brain) in elderly patients during an outbreak in Israel in 1957. Equine disease was first noted in Egypt and France in the early 1960s. The first appearance of WN virus in North America in 1999, with encephalitis reported in humans and horses, and the subsequent spread in the United States may be an important milestone in the evolving history of this virus.
Geographic Distribution: West Nile virus has been described in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, west and central Asia, Oceania (subtype Kunjin), and most recently, North America. Recent outbreaks of WN virus encephalitis in humans have occurred in Algeria in 1994, Romania in 1996-1997, the Czech Republic in 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998, Russia in 1999, the United States in 1999-2001, and Israel in 2000.
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