News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – West Nile virus continued its relentless blanketing of the United States in 2004, marching westward but leaving far fewer dead and ill people in its wake than it did last year.

(CIDRAP News) – The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded contracts worth more than $73 million to study the mechanisms by which certain infectious agents, including potential bioterror agents, trigger immune reactions, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – West Nile fever, usually considered a relatively benign manifestation of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, can be a prolonged, serious illness, according to a study published Sep 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

(CIDRAP News) – Another 210 cases of West Nile virus infection were reported in the past week, but the case count this year remains well below last year's number at this point, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The number of West Nile virus cases reported in the United States this year jumped more than 50% with the addition of 141 cases between Jul 28 and Aug 3, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne disease that can kill humans and animals, is starting to grab the attention of American scientists because it could cause devastating outbreaks in the United States.

Editor's note: This story was revised Jul 19, 2004, to include additional information about the percentage of West Nile virus infections that result in illness.

(CIDRAP News) – Now that West Nile virus (WNV) is in North America to stay, mosquito control is becoming an important task of the public health system, West Nile experts said at a public health convention in St. Paul today.

(CIDRAP News) – Arizona continues to bear most of the current burden of West Nile virus (WNV) infections, with 38 of the 57 human cases reported nationwide, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – Arizona has had 10 of the 14 human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infection reported in the nation so far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.