New Buzz: Killer Skeeters Carry 'Alien'
Virus
TONY KARON
10-1-99
New York's encephalitis outbreak may originate with a
virus from Africa and Asia. Are climate changes globalizing disease?
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s epic struggle with killer mosquitoes
just took a nasty twist. It turns out that the encephalitis outbreak that has killed three
New Yorkers may involve a version of the virus never before seen in the Western
Hemisphere. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that its review of
the outbreak -- identified at first as St. Louis encephalitis -- has determined that at
least one of the deaths was caused by the West Nile virus, found only in Africa and Asia.
Like the St. Louis version, the virus is carried by birds and transfers to humans via
mosquito bites. "Although it’s never been identified as a cause of disease here,
that may be because it wasn’t specifically checked," says TIME medical
correspondent Christine Gorman. "And, of course, encephalitis would be treated the
same way no matter which virus had caused it."
But the cosmopolitan virus does raise questions about the globalization of
epidemics, and some analysts believe climate change may be having an effect on the spread
of such diseases. "You could never with any certainty tie a disease of this type to
global warming," says Gorman. "But there’s an argument being made that
climate change may change patterns of disease -– some plant and animal forms are
certainly occurring further north than we’ve ever seen them before." Not much
comfort to beleaguered New Yorkers suffering almost nightly pesticide bombardment from the
mayor’s helicopters. And if climate change is a factor, the anti-mosquito crusade
could be just the first of a bizarre set of epidemiological battles over the coming
decades.
