posted on April 25, 2003 09:26:12 PM new
Q. Where did West Nile virus come from?
A. West Nile virus has been commonly found in humans and birds and other vertebrates in Africa, Eastern Europe, West Asia, and the Middle East, but until 1999 had not previously been documented in the Western Hemisphere. It is not known from where the U.S. virus originated, but it is most closely related genetically to strains found in the Middle East.
posted on April 25, 2003 09:28:42 PM new
Of course neon!... and they all start with "C", and "C" is the first letter in the word Conspiracy. Why the he!! hasn't anyone thought of this before??
posted on April 25, 2003 09:33:52 PM new
I have found no mention of Monkeys in the hisory of West Nile and was just curious where you thought this indiginous monkey tribe that the virus originated from in the US was located?
Introduction
West Nile (WN) virus has emerged in recent years in temperate regions of Europe and North America, presenting a threat to public, equine, and animal health. The most serious manifestation of WN virus infection is fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in humans and horses, as well as mortality in certain domestic and wild birds.
View enlarged map of laboratory-positive West Nile virus infections during 2002
History
West Nile virus was first isolated from a febrile adult woman in the West Nile District of Uganda in 1937. The ecology was characterized in Egypt in the 1950s. The virus became recognized as a cause of severe human meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and brain) in elderly patients during an outbreak in Israel in 1957. Equine disease was first noted in Egypt and France in the early 1960s. The first appearance of WN virus in North America in 1999, with encephalitis reported in humans and horses, and the subsequent spread in the United States may be an important milestone in the evolving history of this virus.
Geographic Distribution
West Nile virus has been described in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, west and central Asia, Oceania (subtype Kunjin), and most recently, North America.
posted on April 26, 2003 05:39:19 AM new
I think they are living, err visiting, at my house. How funny is this? Just last night I told my boyfriend that between my son and his dozen or so friends who are over every single night, I feel like a zookeeper in a monkey cage. So, I guess they are at my house.
posted on April 26, 2003 07:20:15 AM new
There is/was a group of feral monkies living on an island in Florida. They were left there from the old Tarzan movies decades ago.
posted on April 26, 2003 12:28:27 PM new
I think cmsspu was referring to the group "The Monkees". They were from the U.S. and even though they appeared as a fun group, they might have been masking the virus's they all had.
posted on April 26, 2003 08:06:45 PM new
It seems many people on here forget how the West Nile virus got here.
The first case of West Nile Virus was in the Eastern States! Connecticut and then New york, NJ, PA.
The West Nile Virus is primarily a disease of birds. It is commonly found in Africa,
It is know that the birds feed off of dead monkeys! The mosquito then feeds off of bird.
West Nile Virus is similar to the virus that causes St. Louis encephalitis, which for years has been found in the United States. West Nile had not been found in the United States before the late summer of 1999.
Most people infected by the West Nile Virus experience something that feels like flu. Symptoms of “West Nile fever” may include fever, headache, achy muscles, and extreme tiredness.
In a fraction of cases, the fever leads to encephalitis, which is fatal in some cases or may cause neurologic after-effects. There is no vaccine against West Nile, and no known “cure.” As with other viral diseases.
Again all three virus had the same sysmtoms.
As for the SARA virus, Asia are know to eat monkey and have sex with them! It was reported someone did have sex with a monkey.
Remember the movie OUTBREAK! Yes the monkey did it.
posted on April 28, 2003 03:56:43 AM new
Come on, now. AIDS can hardly be compared to the West Nile Virus or SARS. AIDS is a product of HIV. As neomania pointed out, HIV/AIDS does not have the same symptoms either. You are more likely to find out you have it by developing some bizzare/rare infection somewhere not by having flu-like symptoms. No one dies from AIDS as they can from West Nile or SARS, they die from complications/diseases caused by AIDS. The clients I work with everyday who have full blown AIDS, would be happy to have SARS or West Nile instead.
What next? Do we wipe out all the monkeys of the world because some people choose to believe they are to blame for every disease we cannot explain? One preventative measure would be to cut out using all those anti-bacterial products, which just serve to weaken your immune system. How can your body learn to fight off bacteria if it has none to fight off? Perhaps one reason the people in the US are not dying from SARS like in other countries may be our immune systems are stronger. I believe that because we are such a diverse country, we have unwittingly been exposed to more bacteria and such that are foreign to us than other countries, thus strengthening our immune systems. Just my little ol' theory. Like my mother always said: We eat a pound of dirt before we die.
Cheryl
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Apr 28, 2003 04:02 AM ]
Cheryl