Subject: FW: West Nile virus
Date: Feb 16 13:21:48 2000
From: Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney - festuca at olywa.net


Hi folks,

Thought that those of us on the list who handle birds (and those of
us who haven't any permit, but are tempted to pick up window-kills,
etc., anyway.....) should be aware of the following information. I
am not aware of any outbreaks of this virus in the West, but what
with the efficiency of modern travel (my family helped spread the
flu all over the continent this winter.......) we should all be aware
of the risks in handling wild animals.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net

----------
From: C. John Ralph[SMTP:cjralph at HUMBOLDT1.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 5:21 PM
To: BIRDBAND at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: West Nile virus

Dear Banders,
While this isn't a major problem or threat to banders, I think the
precautionary note about finding sick birds is a good thing to be aware
of.
Cheers, c.j.
--
Dr. C. John Ralph
---- U.S. Forest Service, Redwood Sciences Laboratory,
1700 Bayview Drive, Arcata, California 95521.
(707) 825-2992 (fax: 825-2901) home: 822-2015 (fax: 822-1626)
---------------------------------------------------------
cjralph at humboldt1.com cjr2 at humboldt.edu cjralph at fs.fed.us
http://www.rsl.psw.fs.fed.us

West Nile Virus (see article below) is carried by birds, and there is some
(very small) risk to bird banders. Last week I attended a 2 day Working
Group meeting on this virus (mostly involving public health officials), and
here are some tips I picked up on the risk to banders.

In the New York outbreak, birds were much more affected than people, but
only 1 out of 1000 birds tested had been exposed to the virus. Therefore,
your chances of handling an exposed bird this spring, even if every bird
came from the outbreak area, is only 1 in a 1000 at worst.

Birds are infectious for only 3-5 days; thus the chances of handling a
migrant that is actively infectious is low.

To get the disease from a bird, you would have to be exposed to the blood of
an actively infectious bird. However, once it is sick itself, the virus
moves out of the blood and into organs. The gut starts to rot, and
infectious material can be shed in faeces at this time. Birds this
sick are highly unlikely to be migrating normally.

If you see sick birds, handle them with great care (preferably with gloves
or with a plastic band over your hand). Put them in isolation, and if they
die, put in a fridge (don't freeze if possible--but frozen is better than
rotten), and ship ASAP to a provincial wildlife agency for autopsy. If you
see unexplained mortality in birds, gather up corpses for chilling and
reporting, as above. Crows have been most affected, but other affected
birds include House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Herring Gull, Northern
Cardinal, European Starling, and others.

Always practice good hygiene--wash bird bags frequently, and wash hands
after every session of handling birds.

The following article is slightly out of date, but gives good background
info.

Published in the Newsletter of the New Brunswick Veterinary Medical
Association
(NBVMA Newsletter Vol. 8., No. 2: 16-17, 1999)

WEST NILE VIRUS: AN EMERGING DISEASE
James P. Goltz

Unusual outbreaks of mortality in wild crows and captive zoo birds,
neurologic disease in horses, and encephalitis in humans, all occurring
mainly in New York state this summer and fall, have been linked to West Nile
Virus, an arbovirus never before found in the Western Hemisphere. This
report is intended to make you more aware of this disease and its potential
to spread into eastern Canada.
By the early part of the summer of 1999, there were already phone
reports of wild crow deaths in New York city. In mid August, wild crows
were found dead on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo. Around the same time,
there were reports of encephalitis, originally thought to be St. Louis
encephalitis, in humans. By late August, crow deaths were reported in
multiple areas in New York state. Deaths in captive birds (flamingos,
pheasants, a bald eagle, a laughing gull and a cormorant) due to
meningoencephalitis, sometimes accompanied by myocarditis, began in the
Bronx Zoo in early September and continued over a three-week period. Horse
deaths, initially attributed to Equine Protozoal Myelitis, began in New
York state in late August. West Nile Virus has been isolated from the
crows, other wild birds, zoo birds, humans, horses and mosquitoes. Inital
reports referred to the viral isolate as West Nile-like Virus prior to
confirmation of its identification.

What is West Nile Virus?
West Nile Virus is a flavivirus that is closely related to St. Louis
Encephalitis Virus. It is mainly transmitted by mosquitoes (has been
isolated from 43 species), but may also be transmitted by ticks.
Transmission is considered only to occur via infected arthropods; there is
no evidence of direct animal to animal, or animal to human transmission.
Although wild birds are the primary hosts, the virus may also infect
humans, domestic fowl, large domestic animals, and non-human primates.
Prior to 1999, the virus was only reported from Africa, Asia and Europe.
No approved vaccines against this virus are available.
In the tropics, West Nile Virus usually causes a mild illness in humans
but in temperate areas, disease is often more severe and more prone to
epidemic spread. In mild cases, symptoms may include fever, frontal
headache, malaise, swollen lymph nodes and skin rash. More severe
infections are marked by headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor,
disorientation, coma, tremors, occasional convulsions, paralysis and,
rarely, death due to meningoencephalitis. Disease is usually more severe
in the elderly. The incubation period in humans is usually 5 to 15 days
and infected people remain viremic for about 10 days.
The disease in horses may result in lethargy, weakness in the hind end,
stumbling, loss of coordination, lack of awareness, head tilt, head twitch,
convulsions, circling, hyperexcitability, partial paralysis, coma and death.
The mortality rate in horses is typically moderate to high.

What has the been the impact of the West Nile Virus outbreak in North
America to date?
* Humans: 56 cases, 7 deaths (including one Canadian who visited New
York)
* Horses: confirmed in 11 horses (total of 23 with suspicious clinical
signs, 10 of these horses died or were euthanized); some affected horses
also had Equine Protozoal Myelitis
* Zoo birds: 20 deaths (involving at least 5 species)
* Wild birds: nearly 5000 deaths reported, involving 18 species,
predominantly American Crows (mainly in New York, and to a lesser extent in
New Jersey and Connecticut)
* Dogs: 3/84 healthy dogs were seropositive

In response to this disease, there has been considerable public health
outreach, extensive media coverage, tremendous public anxiety, much costly
laboratory testing, surveillance of mosquitoes and dead birds, and vector
control programs.
Brazil and Hong Kong have restricted the importation of US horses and
the European community has prohibited the exportation of any horses from the
JFK airport to Europe.
Brazilian airlines have been spraying all inbound flights from New York
with insecticides to kill any mosquitoes that may be aboard.

How did this virus come to North America?
It is not known how the virus arrived in the New York area but it is
hypothesized that it may have been introduced by migrating birds, legal or
illegal imports of birds, a viremic person, or the transport of infected
mosquitoes via aircraft.

Why should we be concerned?
Public health officials fear that this virus may be brought to eastern
Canada next spring by migrating birds infected with the virus.

What can be done to prevent the spread of the virus?
Veterinarians should become well informed about this disease.
Good early surveillance programs are extremely important. Please report
any New Brunswick outbreaks of crow mortality to Dr. Jim Goltz at the
Provincial Veterinary Laboratory [(506) 453-5412] or Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust
at the Atlantic Veterinary College [(902) 566-0667], especially if
neurologic disease is suspected. Public health officials in eastern Canada
are mobilizing wildlife agencies and entomologists to help with surveillance
of wild birds and mosquitoes in the upcoming year.
In New York, extensive vector control programs were implemented this
summer.
People are advised to adopt personal protective measures while engaging
in outdoor activities where mosquitoes are likely to be encountered,
especially at dawn, at dusk and at night.
Horses could be stabled inside during normal mosquito feeding times and
insect repellents could be used on them. In geographic areas where West
Nile Virus is a problem, it may be advisable to collect baseline serum
samples from horses and store for comparison should any encephalitic
syndrome be subsequently suspected.

Additional information on West Nile Virus is available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no5/hubalek.htm#20
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/arbor/arboinfo.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r990924.htm
http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/nwhchome.html


Erica Dunn
Canadian Wildlife Service
National Wildlife Research Centre
100 Gamelin Blvd.
Hull, Quebec, Canada K1A 0H3
PH: 819-994-0182
FX: 819-953-6612
EM: Erica.Dunn at ec.gc.ca

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