Cost of WNV -- News Item about Funding and Discussion

<x-flowed> From the New York Times (Metro Briefing Feb 20, 2003):

    BIGGER BUDGET FOR WEST NILE VIRUS RESEARCH
    The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will receive an
    additional $8 million this year to detect and fight the mosquito-borne
    West Nile Virus, said Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of Queens.
    There were 29 reported cases of the virus in New York City last
year, including
    two deaths, and 2,600 cases nationally. The spending package
passed by Congress
    last week includes $37 million to combat the virus, up from last
year's $29 million.
    Robert F. Worth (NYT)

QUESTIONS:
Is anyone doing economic analyses of the price tag for West Nile Virus?
Among the questions that I would like to see addressed by such an analysis:

(a) What is the sum total of appropriations such as that mentioned
in the NYTimes article? How does this compare with funding prior to
the WNV outbreak? How has money been allocated between various
sectors within public health, and to
veterinary/agricultural/ecological agencies and research?

(b) How much staff time and attention at all levels of public health
and other agencies has gone to WNV? (i.e., effort that might not be
reflected in the funding analysis)

(c) Has the attention to WNV brought a net gain in funding for
public health infrastructure and research?

(d) What other net gains or positive benefits have there been from
the energy and funding that have gone into WNV? (e.g., better
channels of communication among agencies, better surveillance and
preparedness infrastructures, new knowledge with broad application,
... ?)

(e) What have been the "opportunity costs" -- i.e., are other areas
of public health receiving less funding and attention as result of
WNV?

(f) Can the public health infrastructure withstand an outbreak of
another exotic disease?

I look forward to other thoughts on this topic, lengthening and
strengthening this list of questions.
Thanks, Lois Levitan

--
Lois Levitan, PhD       Program Leader
Environmental Risk Analysis Program
Center for the Environment
213 Rice Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York USA 14853-5601
Phone:   (607) 255-4765     Fax: (607) 255-0238
Email:  LCL3@cornell.edu
Program Email: envrisk@cornell.edu
Web:http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/ERAP
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