West Nile Virus fears exaggerated

Author: Emily Kilborn

The recent hysteria over West Nile Virus (WNV) in the American media has been largely unfounded, and last week's sensationalist Middlebury Campus article ["Blood-thirsty bugs out of control"] was no exception.

In truth, only 119 Americans died of WNV last year, out of a national population of around 300,000,000. That number is also expected to drop over the coming years as Americans build up immunity to the disease. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that only one in 150 infected people will get seriously ill, and only 3-15 percent of those will die, many of whom are elderly or immuno-compromised.

If you have been bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, you probably don't even know it. According to CDC statistics, around 80 percent of people infected will experience no symptoms, and even if you are unlucky enough, as I was, to fall into the group of nearly 20 percent who develop West Nile Fever, you will probably assume you have an unpleasant case of the flu. In the seven years since WNV first showed up in New York City, the National Biological Information Structure reports that only 500 Americans have died. In fact, far more Americans die each year of common diseases such as chickenpox (CKP), asthma (AHA) and influenza (INF), all of which have highly effective means of prevention and/or treatment. In 2003 alone, the CDC reported that over 3000 Americans died of malnutrition. The proposed use of pesticides in Vermont's wetlands in order to control the mosquito population would be a proportional response only if these mosquitoes were transmitting something far more virulent, like malaria, yellow fever or dengue. In addition to the hazards of exposing Vermonters to large amounts of pesticides, the resulting drop in the mosquito population would have a devastating effect on our native bird, fish, snake, frog, and bat populations, all of which rely on mosquitoes for their survival.

Instead of dousing Vermont's wetlands with $180,000 worth of pesticides - in order to allay the fears that articles like yours have provoked - our state government should invest its resources into efforts that could actually improve the lives of Vermonters.