Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 11:33:12 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> From: Walter Ellison <rossgull@CROSSLINK.NET> Subject: Re: Crows in Rock Creek Park and West Nile Virus MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, I was treated to a very detailed and fascinating talk about the origin, distribution, and pathology of West Nile Virus in New York State by State Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone last year while I was still at the University at Albany (SUNY). Dr. Stone had lots of material on the effects of the disease on birds, especially corvids. The disease can attack virtually any organ system but is particulalry hard on the major organs associated with blood and its circulation - the heart, liver and spleen. The virus was present in the affected tissues, and Stone made it clear that the pathology displayed was caused by the virus. I agree that some people are being way too gloomy and pessimistic about this disease. No doubt even if our crows experience a major die-off the species will survive and likely bounce back. There are just too many crows out there for them to fail in adapting to this challenge. I am more worried about a species like Florida Scrub-Jay. In general we don't know how devastating the disease will prove to be in our birds. I also agree with Mr. Mozurkewich on pesticides. The poisons we spray to "control" pests are far more destructive than most diseases, partly because they compromise the immune systems of many birds before they ever encounter something like West Nile. Respectfully, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ----- Original Message ----- From: "teresa layne" <tlaynewashdc@YAHOO.COM> To: <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 8:43 PM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Crows in Rock Creek Park and West Nile Virus > >>>>That a bird tests positive for WNV and is sick in > no way implicates the virus as making the bird sick. > > Perhaps a better way of phrasing this would be "That a bird tests positive for WNV and is sick is not conclusive proof that the virus is making the bird sick." I don't think you can say that it in no way implicates the virus. > > Would any other scientists out there care to comment on the issue of how to determine whether WNV is responsible for the bird deaths? While I agree there may be a bit of hysteria going on, the fact that there have now been multiple human deaths, as well as the reports from Ohio about the raptors being found on the ground dying, seems to me to be serious enough for concern. However, I do agree that other measures should be tried besides spraying, which is not innocuous. > > Terri Layne, Washington DC ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================