West Nile has descended upon Dallas, the response being commendable. Sources should be identified to forstall future occurrence. What lessons can be learned?
Our lab has been monitoring a population level of Culex quinquefasciatus-a main West Nile virus vector in Central Texas that started in the last year and has continued up until now. We found that urban populations of Culex quinguefasciatus have increased extensively during June to August of this year.
This may explain the increased WNV cases in Dallas.
when WNV first occurred in TX it was fatal in horses. Now a horse vaccine is available. Before vaccine, low dose oral human interferon alpha was safe and effective.
As in Dallas, we have an outbreak in India for the first time . It causes fever and joint pains in human followed by eye involvement in the form of retinitis.
The biggest lessons here are: 1) we can expect for infectious diseases to continue emerging and re-emerging throughout the world, including the United States, as infectious agents and their vectors are constantly adapting and evolving; 2) we must look more closely at the dynamic interplay between climate change, demographic change, invasive species, and interactions between humans and non-human hosts of zoonotic pathogens; 3) we must improve our efforts and competencies to engage in One Health surveillance, combining medical and veterinary surveillance systems with environmental monitoring for both freely occurring pathogens and populations of insect and other vectors.
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