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Yahoo!The Department of Public Health announced today that a crow has tested positive for the West Nile virus. Though the report issued this afternoon did not identify where the bird was found, it did note that so far this year, scientists have tested 10 birds from Santa Barbara County for the disease and this one was the first have been infected.
“This confirms that there is West Nile Virus activity locally, and it is a reminder that we should take steps to avoid mosquito bites,” said S.B. County Public Health Director Dr. Elliot Schulman in the press release. To this end, Public Health is encouraging people to stay indoors during dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active, as mosquitoes bites are the most common way of contracting the disease. Furthermore, people should also wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors, apply insect repellent, make sure window screens have no holes and fit snugly, and eliminate any standing water that mosquitoes could use as breeding grounds.
The document also noted that there have been 103 documented cases of West Nile Virus in humans in 2008 throughout California. One resulted in a fatality. The last instance of human infection in Santa Barbara County occurred in 2006.
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Why not give the location of the bird found with West Nile Virus?
hmm (anonymous profile)
August 27, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
GenoMed, a genomics-based Disease Management company in St. Louis, has had encouraging results treating West Nile virus encephalitis since 2003.
We’ve had about 80% treatment success rate in people (23 of 29 improved) and horses (8 of 10 survived), and 50% in birds (6 of 12 survived). Our first 8 human WNV patients were published in a peer-reviewed medical journal in 2004 (1). This is sufficient for our treatment to officially exist in both the medical and legal senses.
The earlier our treatment is begun, the better the outcome.
Anybody who wants to download our WNV trial protocol can do so for free at any time by clicking on the "West Nile trial" link on our company’s homepage at www.genomed.com.
Dave Moskowitz MD
CEO & Chief Medical Officer
GenoMed, Inc. (Ticker symbol GMED on OTC Pink Sheets)
“The public health company™”
1. Moskowitz DW, Johnson FE. The central role of angiotensin I-converting enzyme in vertebrate pathophysiology. Curr Top Med Chem. 2004;4(13):1433-54. PMID: 15379656 (For PDF file, click on paper #6 at: http://www.genomed.com/index.cfm?action=...)
DrMoskowitz (anonymous profile)
August 27, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
That dead crow (positive for West Nile Virus) was picked up in the front-country foothills near the Santa Barbara city limits with Montecito (i.e., the northeast edge of Santa Barbara on the city side of the boundary).
As crows can fly a sufficiently long distance, specifying a location any more precise really is meaningless. The essential message is that this virus has been found for the first time this calendar year in Santa Barbara County and at a South Coast location.
About 4 weeks ago a positive crow was found in the middle of Ventura city, and earlier positive birds were found in eastern Ventura County and several throughout Los Angeles County.
The mosquito avoidance precautions noted in this news article remain good advice for everyone to reduce the likelihood of getting bitten by mosquitoes.
David_Pritchett (David Pritchett)
August 28, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
These crows fly in from all directions and congregate on the telephone wires on Hollister near the Airport Tower at sundown - its an eerie sight - thousands of them, like scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" - my guess is they picked it up there by the wetlands near the airport as they seem to feed there.
AShaw (anonymous profile)
August 28, 2008 at 9:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
One can assume the exact location is rarely given because it could cause a panic and encourage local trigger happy hunters to go out and senselessly slaughter innocent harmless birds.
samuel (anonymous profile)
September 1, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually, slaughtering the crows is a great idea, West Nile Virus or not. They're noisy, filthy animals. We should aim to cut their population by about 90%.
We could do it on the cheap by handing out BB guns to every kid under the age of 18. As a side benefit, this might also solve the ground squirrel problem at Shoreline Park.
Kratatoa (anonymous profile)
September 1, 2008 at 2:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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