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"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."

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BL Fisher Note: That's right, only a very small percentage of persons who

get infected with West Nile virus have serious complications or die. The

most vulnerable are the elderly and those in poor health. After being

exposed to the virus, you are immune for life. You could substitute the word

"flu" for "West Nile" virus and the outcome for most healthy persons is the

same.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-West-Nile.html?ex=1033959580&ei=

1&en=3eeb559914f6477e

Scientists Predict W. Nile Vaccine

September 25, 2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A West Nile virus vaccine to protect

against the sometimes fatal infection could be ready in as

little as three years, federal scientists told Congress.

A way to test the nation's blood supply against the virus

might be in place next summer, the scientists said Tuesday.

The mosquito-borne virus has infected 2,000 people in 32

states so far this year and killed 98. Particularly

worrisome are recent discoveries that West Nile apparently

can be spread through blood transfusions if someone donates

blood shortly after becoming infected, and that it

occasionally causes a polio-like paralysis.

Still, public health specialists are expressing cautious

optimism. While West Nile virus is here to stay, they

expect infections to fall sharply -- possibly as early as

next year -- as more people become immune and communities

act quickly each spring to destroy mosquito eggs and

breeding grounds.

There even are hints that immunity against cousins of West

Nile -- such as yellow fever, dengue fever and St. Louis

encephalitis -- might provide protection against the new

virus too.

In experiments, genes from the West Nile virus were added

to the structure of the yellow fever vaccine, and proved

protective in animal studies, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the

National Institutes of Health.

A biotechnology company, Acambis, plans to begin tests in a

few dozen people soon to see if the experimental vaccine is

safe, and if later testing proves its effectiveness, it

could be available in three years, Fauci told a Senate

hearing.

Also, the NIH this winter will test people vaccinated

against yellow fever -- inoculations required for travel to

certain parts of Africa and South America -- for signs that

it provided cross-protection against West Nile.

``This is a disease we need to take seriously,'' Fauci told

senators who wondered why West Nile, which first hit the

United States in 1999, spread so fast. But ``it's

extraordinarily unlikely that West Nile will ever get on

the same radar screen'' as, say, flu epidemics in terms of

the harm it causes, he said.

For one thing, only 20 percent of people who become

infected with West Nile have even mild flulike symptoms;

one in 150 to 200 get seriously ill. Better, if you survive

a West Nile infection -- even if you had no symptoms --

you're considered immune for life.

So today's children and young adults probably will become

immune by the time they reach 60, important because older

people are most at risk of death from West Nile, Fauci

explained.

The Food and Drug Administration hopes to have blood banks

testing for West Nile virus in donations -- even if it

means using an experimental test -- next summer, said FDA's

Dr. Jesse Goodman.

While West Nile apparently can be transmitted through

blood, the virus stays in the bloodstream for only a short

time -- suggesting the risk to the blood supply is very

low, he said. Still, a blood-testing technology called

nucleic acid testing can detect low levels of other viruses

in blood, and FDA is optimistic that tweaking that

technology eventually could allow West Nile detection too.

Meanwhile, mosquitoes don't disappear during the winter in

the South. So people should continue to wear

DEET-containing mosquito-repellant and should not let water

stand in flower pots or buckets near their homes, stressed

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-West-Nile.html?ex=1033959580&ei=

1&en=3eeb559914f6477e

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