Last year, West Nile Virus was big news, and for good reason. It was the second year of the virus outbreak, but was the first year it had really spread from the northeast into the rest of the US (I’m working from memory here, so that timeline may be off).
As predected, the bulk of the cases, and the biggest increases, are those states to the west of the hardest hit states last year. California and Arizona got hit hardest with both the highest totals and the biggest increases:
Total cases 2003 2004
Arizona         13     369
California       3     563
The good news is the drop in cases in most states. A sample:
                2003 2004
Colorado   2947   225
Nebraska   942     22
Texas       720     78
Let’s not get complacent. WNV is here to stay in the US, just another endemic disease. The cause of the drop in cases is no doubt multifactorial, including more emphasis on mosquito control, personal protection (DEET, etc.) and just the normal tidal-wave crest of cases with a new disease.
Anecdotally, I’ve ordered WNV testing twice this year, a huge drop from last year, so my experience correlates with this data.
Some links:
CDC West Nile Page
WNV data 2003 and 2004
USGS map of WNV activity
also posted to LingualNerve
Did you see the reports on adenovirus outbreaks. Lackland AFB is mentioned. As a layman, I was suprised at the mortality. It also strikes me as at least as big a worry as West Nile virus.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002051692_virus03.html
That “Peace Dividend” really paid off, didn’t it?
I agree that stopping this vaccination was stupid, but the article authors’ breathlessness about how dangerous this virus is borders on the absurd.
Thanks mucho for setting me straight. So long as the press is treated by the law as an unaccountable priesthood, we’ll have this nonsense.