West Nile virus detected in Canadian birds
Copyright 2001 Reuters
August 22, 2001
TORONTO - The potentially deadly West Nile virus has been detected in early tests of two dead birds found in the province of Ontario, which could mark the first time the virus has made its way into Canada.
Health Canada officials said this week they are conducting further tests on a dead crow found in the border town of Windsor, Ontario, in early August after preliminary tests showed the presence of the virus. And a Blue-Jay found in Oakville, 25 km (15 miles) west of Toronto, is also being examined after early tests showed signs of the virus.
West Nile virus is transmitted via mosquitoes after the insects become infected by feeding on the blood of birds that carry the virus.
Most people infected with the virus show no symptoms or only mild flu-like symptoms, but in rare cases it can cause inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.
A Health Canada spokeswoman said a second battery of tests being performed at an infectious disease lab in Winnipeg are expected to be ready by the middle of next week.
Canadian health officials are warning people in Southwestern Ontario to protect themselves against mosquitoes, although no cases have been reported in humans.
"The West Nile virus is potentially a threat to humans and that's why we have been doing the bird testing, because we believe it is in the area...It is our belief that if it is here, it is here in low levels," said Dr. Allen Heimann, medical officer for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
West Nile virus has killed nine people in the United States since it appeared in the New York area in 1999. A recent report by the New York health department said an estimated 8,200 people were infected and 1,700 of them got sick.
The disease was first identified in the 1930s along a branch of the Nile River in Africa.
One North American death has been linked to the virus this year after an elderly Georgia woman died of the mosquito borne illness on Aug. 11.