In this area (SE Mass), we had a lot of WestNile virus in birds last year. Mosquito spraying is a regular event here when there's any disease danger, and that spraying kept it from being a huge human problem. This year, because of drought, we don't have a problem...no mosquitoes!
I can't believe the spraying wasn't done much earlier in Chicago (and other places) when it was so effective in infected areas last year.
To call it terrorism is pretty silly. The virus has spread in a pretty predictable fashion from its start a few years ago.
I am here to learn. To my knowledge, there has never been a completely foreign mosquito borne virus that has completely swept across the U.S. in three short years. Have there been any computer models exploring bird migratory patterns to substatiate the theroy that this was spread exclusively by birds? I know mosquitos remain generally within 300 yards from the location where they are hatched during their entire lifespan. How this spread so quickly concerns me.
If you could identify a similiar occurrence, I would appreciate it.
You have identified a concern I have. Mosquito control trucks and airplanes were a rare event prior to the West Nile virus, now it is common place in our population centers.
Either planes or trucks used in a biological weapons attack could easily pass as a mosquito control operation. Just as an airborne weapon of mass destruction flying down the Hudson River could pass as a passenger jet.