[WNV-L} Did WNV Kill Alexander the Great?

  In December 2003, the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID)
published an historical review of the circumstances surrounding the
death of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. The authors (Marr and
Calisher) posit that he may have died from WNV. Several letters
addressing this hypothesis, as well as a response from Marr
andCalisher, appear in the July 2004 issue of EID.

[1]
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND WEST NILE VIRUS ENCEPHALITIS (Historical Review)
Emerging Infectious Diseases 9 (12): December 2003.
Available <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no12/03-0288.htm>

John S. Marr and Charles H. Calisher
The authors are, respectively, with the Virginia Department of
Health, Richmond, Virginia and Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO

Abstract:
Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC. His death at age 32
followed a 2-week febrile illness. Speculated causes of death have
included poisoning, assassination, and a number of infectious
diseases. One incident, mentioned by Plutarch but not considered by
previous investigators, may shed light on the cause of Alexander's
death. The incident, which occurred as he entered Babylon, involved a
flock of ravens exhibiting unusual behavior and subsequently dying at
his feet. The inexplicable behavior of ravens is reminiscent of avian
illness and death weeks before the first human cases of West Nile
virus infection were identified in the United States. We posit that
Alexander may have died of West Nile virus encephalitis

[2]
LETTERS were from:
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no7/04-0039_104_396_320.htm>

[2A] Burke A. Cunha. who is with the Winthrop-University Hospital,
Mineola, NY and SUNY School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, agrees that
"The death of Alexander was certainly caused by an infectious disease
and not poisoning or alcoholic liver disease." but suggests it was
more likely typhoid than WNV.

[2B]
David Oldach, R. Michael Benitez, and Philip A. Mackowiak, who are
with the VA Maryland Health Care System and the University of
Maryland School of Medicine, caution that Plutarch uses bird
symbolism in many of his writings and thus suggest "a grain of salt
with Plutarch."

[2C]
Massimo Galli, Flavia Bernini, and Gianguglielmo Zehender, who are
with the Istituto di Malattie Infettive e Tropicali, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy, estimate the time of divergence among
the different WNV strains, concluding that WNV is a relatively young
virus with small probability of incidental infections of humans
before 1,000 years ago.

[3]
In their REPLY, Marr and Calisher note that both their paper "and
the Oldach et al. response are examples of the serendipitous
pleasures that can be brought to the literature by classical
citations, and that all orthodox medical theories on historical
causations should be periodically reexamined. Because we are the type
who do not mind crawling around in dirty places, we consider
computer-based epidemiology for the birds and are willing to eat
Corvus brachyrhynchos." They go on in the same vein, admitting to
an ulterior motive "to continue the legacy of others in heuristic
discussions of the classics."

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