Friday, September 1 2000 - 1 Elul 5760

14 cases of West Nile fever discovered

By Judy Siegel

JERUSALEM (September 1) - The latest outbreak of West Nile fever has infected 14 Israelis of varying ages, and two of them have died during the past week, Health Ministry public health chief Dr. Alex Leventhal said yesterday.

"Larger outbreaks may have occurred last year or the year before, but we didn't know about it," he added. "Lab tests are more sophisticated, and awareness of doctors is higher because we alerted them about the possibility a few months ago."

The fatalities were an 84-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman. The other 12 patients are recovering, he said.

Deaths due to West Nile virus are very rare, and due to complications in immune-suppressed individuals, especially the elderly, Leventhal said.

He praised the work of Agriculture Ministry veterinarians who have destroyed flocks of domesticated geese that had gotten the virus from infected mosquitoes. Local authorities, the Environment and Agriculture Ministries, and the Nature Reserves Authority are spraying areas infected with mosquitoes.

The virus, which in the past year has caused panic in New York City (where it killed seven people and affected an additional 60), is common in Israel, the rest of the Middle East, and parts of Europe. Deaths are rare and result from encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or sometimes meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain or spinal cord).

The virus is not passed person to person, but only by the common variety of mosquitoes infected. While the authorities can deal with infected domestic birds, it can do little to prevent the spread of the virus among migrating wild birds that pass through Israel during the spring and fall, Leventhal said.

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/09/01/News/News.11639.html

-- (sis@home.zzz), September 01, 2000

Answers

I think the West Nile Virus kinda lives in the Middle East. (Just west of the Nile is my guess...narf!) I just don't want it coming any closer to me. The state has taken great strides to keep it from moving south of Long Island..and it looks like they've done a pretty good job..but of course, time will tell. As a diehard conspiracy lover, I can't help but wonder if this isn't a cover for allowing the government to spray whatever the hell it wants all over us. But.. Probably not. :-)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), September 01, 2000.

Silly me! There it is in the 2nd to the last paragraph: The disease is ... common in Israel...

I do wonder how the hell it got to New York, unless a bunch of mosquitos made lunch out of some sick people who just got off the plane from Israel.......

-- (sis@home.zzz), September 01, 2000.

The West Nile Virus is a conspiracy between a government backed corporation and the United States military.

For more information, check out:

"http://conspiracy.itgo.com"

-- Dock West (dockwest112@yahoo.com), April 28, 2001.