Center for Disease Control

Most recent report on West Nile Virus  Epidemic/Epizootic West Nile Virus in the United States: Revised Guidelines for Surveillance, Prevention, and Control  http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/resources/wnv-guidelines-apr-2001.pdf       

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report January 21, 2000 / 49(02);25-8 

Guidelines for Surveillance, Prevention, and Control of West Nile Virus Infection -- United States

The introduction of West Nile (WN) virus in the northeastern United States during the summer and fall of 1999 raised the issue of preparedness of public health agencies to handle sporadic and outbreak-associated vectorborne diseases (1-3). In many local and state health departments, vectorborne disease capacity has diminished. Because it is unknown whether the virus can persist over the winter, whether it has already or will spread to new geographic locations, and the public health and animal health implications of this introduction, it is important to establish proactive laboratory-based surveillance and prevention and control programs to limit the impact of the virus in the United States. On November 8 and 9, 1999, CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cosponsored a meeting of experts representing a wide range of disciplines to review the outbreak and to provide input and guidance on the programs that should be developed to monitor WN virus activity and to prevent future outbreaks of disease. This report summarizes the guidelines established during this meeting.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr//preview/mmwrhtml/mm4902a1.htm         

Environmental Protection Agency

Pesticides and Mosquito Control  

Mosquito-borne diseases affect millions of people worldwide each year. In the United States, some species of mosquitoes can transmit diseases such as encephalitis, dengue fever, and malaria to humans, and a variety of diseases to wildlife and domestic animals.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/skeeters.htm            

Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 New Jersey

West Nile Virus, Mosquitoes and
Pesticides

"This past summer, New York City and surrounding counties dealt with a second outbreak of the West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen not seen in the Western Hemisphere before last year. Fourteen people in the New York City metropolitan area were diagnosed with the virus in 2000, and one of those individuals, a New Jersey resident, died from encephalitis -- an inflammation of the brain brought on by the virus.  In the summer of 1999, seven people in the New York metropolitan area died from encephalitis. Sixty-two others were made seriously ill."