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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Larry Zwiebel

Aired July 12, 2003 - 12:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN ANCHOR: It's spring and summer in many parts of the U.S. threatening to make a current health threat whereas, West Nile virus, even worse. And health officials say the virus could spread across the entire continental U.S. in the months ahead. Vanderbilt University researcher Larry Zwiebel with us now from Nashville, Tennessee to talk more about this growing health threat. It's very good to have you on the program.
LARRY ZWIEBEL, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Very nice to be here, Rhonda.

SCHAFFLER: How problematic could West Nile be this year, based on that weather we had? It just wouldn't stop raining for so long.

ZWIEBEL: Well, it's impossible to predict the future, of course, but all the landmarks are in present state to make for a very aggressive West Nile season this year. We hope, obviously, that the situation doesn't forego any catastrophic inputs, but we believe that there's going to be a substantial mosquito population that will bring West Nile with it.

SCHAFFLER: The first human case has just been reported, correct?

ZWIEBEL: Actually, there have been three cases reported, two in Texas and one in South Carolina.

SCHAFFLER: And at this point, when we look ahead for projections here, any sort of precautions people can take with what we know now?

ZWIEBEL: Well, I think the common sense approach is to mosquito control are always the best. Try and clean out your gutters and any standing water around your house, reduce the ability for the mosquitoes to increase their populations where we live. Also, sensible precautions about avoiding activity around dawn and dusk where mosquitoes are most active, and wearing loose clothing, long sleeved t-shirts and shirts, long trousers, and use deet containing mosquito repellents are most effective.

SCHAFFLER: Are there other worries with mosquitoes other than West Nile?

ZWIEBEL: Well, of course, West Nile has served to reawaken the public's awareness about mosquito-borne diseases. And West Nile is only one of a whole slew of insect-borne diseases. Dengi (ph) fever is very well established in Mexico, and there's a fear that in the coming years, it may with the increase in aedis egypti (ph) population, the principal vector for dengi (ph), it may become a major health threat in the United States.

SCHAFFLER: Now, you're actually researching some sort of repellent that hopefully will be put to use somewhere down the road that could help this, correct?

ZWIEBEL: Well, our work is actually fundamentally focused on the basic mechanisms that the mosquito uses to sense its environment. Like most flying insects, mosquitoes smell their way through the world, and our work is focused on the biochemistry and molecular genetics of olfaction or smell, as we like to say, and whereby learning more about how the mosquito smells, we hope to develop a whole new generation of repellents and even attractants that can bring mosquitoes away from where we are and take them to places where we want them to go, insecticide-laden traps and other types of collection devices.

SCHAFFLER: We know more about West Nile now than we did a few years ago. How is the treatment differently now?

ZWIEBEL: Well, the treatment is remarkably not a complex issue. We know now to look more for the flu-like symptoms that occur prior to encephalitis setting in so that we can treat the disease at its early stages rather than later where it becomes much more problematic, and I think public awareness is the critical element in keeping the number of West Nile-related fatalities to an absolute minimum.

SCHAFFLER: Larry Zwiebel, it's been good talking to you, thanks so much.

ZWIEBEL: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 12, 2003 - 12:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN ANCHOR: It's spring and summer in many parts of the U.S. threatening to make a current health threat whereas, West Nile virus, even worse. And health officials say the virus could spread across the entire continental U.S. in the months ahead. Vanderbilt University researcher Larry Zwiebel with us now from Nashville, Tennessee to talk more about this growing health threat. It's very good to have you on the program.
LARRY ZWIEBEL, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Very nice to be here, Rhonda.

SCHAFFLER: How problematic could West Nile be this year, based on that weather we had? It just wouldn't stop raining for so long.

ZWIEBEL: Well, it's impossible to predict the future, of course, but all the landmarks are in present state to make for a very aggressive West Nile season this year. We hope, obviously, that the situation doesn't forego any catastrophic inputs, but we believe that there's going to be a substantial mosquito population that will bring West Nile with it.

SCHAFFLER: The first human case has just been reported, correct?

ZWIEBEL: Actually, there have been three cases reported, two in Texas and one in South Carolina.

SCHAFFLER: And at this point, when we look ahead for projections here, any sort of precautions people can take with what we know now?

ZWIEBEL: Well, I think the common sense approach is to mosquito control are always the best. Try and clean out your gutters and any standing water around your house, reduce the ability for the mosquitoes to increase their populations where we live. Also, sensible precautions about avoiding activity around dawn and dusk where mosquitoes are most active, and wearing loose clothing, long sleeved t-shirts and shirts, long trousers, and use deet containing mosquito repellents are most effective.

SCHAFFLER: Are there other worries with mosquitoes other than West Nile?

ZWIEBEL: Well, of course, West Nile has served to reawaken the public's awareness about mosquito-borne diseases. And West Nile is only one of a whole slew of insect-borne diseases. Dengi (ph) fever is very well established in Mexico, and there's a fear that in the coming years, it may with the increase in aedis egypti (ph) population, the principal vector for dengi (ph), it may become a major health threat in the United States.

SCHAFFLER: Now, you're actually researching some sort of repellent that hopefully will be put to use somewhere down the road that could help this, correct?

ZWIEBEL: Well, our work is actually fundamentally focused on the basic mechanisms that the mosquito uses to sense its environment. Like most flying insects, mosquitoes smell their way through the world, and our work is focused on the biochemistry and molecular genetics of olfaction or smell, as we like to say, and whereby learning more about how the mosquito smells, we hope to develop a whole new generation of repellents and even attractants that can bring mosquitoes away from where we are and take them to places where we want them to go, insecticide-laden traps and other types of collection devices.

SCHAFFLER: We know more about West Nile now than we did a few years ago. How is the treatment differently now?

ZWIEBEL: Well, the treatment is remarkably not a complex issue. We know now to look more for the flu-like symptoms that occur prior to encephalitis setting in so that we can treat the disease at its early stages rather than later where it becomes much more problematic, and I think public awareness is the critical element in keeping the number of West Nile-related fatalities to an absolute minimum.

SCHAFFLER: Larry Zwiebel, it's been good talking to you, thanks so much.

ZWIEBEL: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com