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American Morning
Experts Head to Capitol Hill to tell Congress West Nile Virus Spreading Farther and Faster Than Expected
Aired September 10, 2001 - 11:05 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Experts head to Capitol Hill today to tell Congress that the West Nile virus is spreading farther and faster than expected. The potentially deadly bug has been detected in much of the eastern half of the U.S. The people who follow its advance believe that the West Nile virus could reach the west coast by next year.
Dr. Bob McLean is director of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center. He joins us from Washington.
Good morning, sir. Thanks for coming in.
What do you make of speed and spread patterns of this virus, I should say?
DR. BOB MCLEAN, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Yes, I think it's surprising. A number of us expected to move southward as it did early in the year when it established in Florida. But this spread from east to west was little surprising, since most of the birds don't migrate or move in that direction. Possibly an explanation introduced earlier in the spring and just now being detected in the Midwest.
HARRIS: The trick here is the only way to detect, or the only way to find out where it is, is collecting dead birds?
MCLEAN: Yes, this virus is very virulent form. And it does kill some of our birds, particularly crows and bluejays, and that's a very sensitive method of detecting the presence in the virus, and that's been used very effectively for public health surveillance during the last four years.
HARRIS: So what does this then portend for future, if you look at the way that this one is spreading. How think the story is going to play out?
MCLEAN: I think this is a virus we have to live with. It's, you know, arrived in '99 and spreading very quickly. Migratory birds are moving the virus, we think, and they are about to begin their migration southward, as we speak. This could move the virus to a number of gulf coast states, and possibly through to Central America. And there is where could be a source of virus next spring for moving further West as the spring migration brings virus from Central America. HARRIS: Ad you'd expect, this could actually go into other countries as well then?
MCLEAN: Yes, I think so. There's no barriers we can see to the movement of this virus. It's spread by birds, and it's a very effective virus in birds.
HARRIS: Well, if it's that effective, and it seems to be multiplying the number of animals that are coming down with it, do you expect at some point in the future it will be present in every single state in this country? And, therefore, you're going to have a bigger problem than we could ever imagine?
MCLEAN: It's certainly possible. We don't know the sequence will occur, but that's certainly a likelihood, and one we're worried about. The birds do carry it, and they do migrate, you know, seasonally from south to north and north to south. There's a great likelihood could get moved, and eventually occur throughout the United States, and something we'll have to live with.
HARRIS: There's no way to actually eradicate the virus. This is just something we have to live with?
MCLEAN: I think so. There can be a lot done to protect people, mostly personal protection against mosquito is the most effective. But so we have to be concerned about protecting people from mosquito bites. We're worried about the birds. This is having significant mortality in birds, and that's a big concern to USGS, and our efforts to track and investigate this disease.
HARRIS: All right. That's good advice for people out there may be walking around the yard or the neighborhood and they may see a dead crow or dead bluejay or something, who should they call if people in other states or anyplace right now happens to find something like that?
MCLEAN: Most states have a hotline, a number to call, and they put out a lot of media about that. Either -- and if they don't know the number, calling the local health department will provide that number for them.
HARRIS: Dr. Bob McLean, we thank you very much for your time this morning. And we will watching the story along with you. We will see how develops. Good luck.
MCLEAN: Thank you.
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