By Kathianne Boniello
The virus that first roared into the borough’s consciousness four years ago inspiring both fear and controversy does not seem to be big news in 2002, with the city last week quietly announcing plans to combat the sometimes deadly West Nile virus.
The virus first was identified in the Western Hemisphere in August 1999, when infected residents from the Powell’s Cove section of Queens were linked by an alert doctor at Flushing Hospital. For several months after the virus was discovered, the city scrambled to identify the then-mystery illness and initially labeled it as St. Louis Encephalitis.
The West Nile virus infects birds and other animals and often is transferred to humans by mosquitoes, which breed in stagnant water and overgrown areas. In 1999, four people died of West Nile in Queens and dozens throughout the city were sickened. In 2000 and 2001 several borough residents became ill from the virus but none died because of it.
On May 29 the city gathered a number of officials in Red Hook, Brooklyn to announce its proposed West Nile efforts, which include tracking dead birds as well as infected animals and mosquitoes.
Deep within a news release emphasizing the city’s recurring efforts to prevent the spread of the virus by monitoring the mosquito population and curbing it with insecticides, the city Health Department announced all dead birds tested in the five boroughs this year were negative for the virus.
Just four years ago the announcement of a dead bird discovery would park a media frenzy and neighborhood fear as city officials and communities scrambled to get a handle on the West Nile virus.
In 2002 the city plans to continue a number of inter-agency practices credited with controlling the spread of the virus over the past several years, including attacking mosquito larvae in city catch basins and in standing water, cleaning overgrown property to lessen mosquito breeding grounds and tracking dead birds and infected animals.
“Now that our laboratory is equipped to test mosquitoes and humans for the virus, we can turn around test results more quickly, an advance that is critical to preventing further disease,” said Health Department Commissioner Thomas Frieden.
In past years the city has had to send dead birds to upstate labs for West Nile testing.
After the initial fear about West Nile came controversy when the city chose to spray the insecticide malathion from helicopters over large swaths of Queens and the other four boroughs. Later the city used trucks to spread insecticides throughout neighborhood streets.
But the insecticide campaign drew criticism from both the general public and environmentalists. The public complained of unreliable spraying schedules, while environmentalists protested malathion as a potentially cancerous substance.
In 2000 and 2001 the Health Department strove to focus prevention as a way to fight West Nile and began targeting larvae to curb the mosquito population. Pesticide spraying was significantly reduced and the city Health Department no longer uses malathion.
West Nile virus produces flu-like symptoms including achiness, fever, sore joints, muscle pain and headaches. Young children and the elderly are especially susceptible to the illness. The virus can result in encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, which can cause symptoms such as fever, headache, confusion and achy joints.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
