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Date: Tues, 17 Sept 2002
Posted by: Mike Thomas (MThomas@wchd.org)

The University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine will be releasing to the press today information on five animals with West Nile Virus (WNV). All five animals had neurologic disease and were confirmed with WNV by three different test methods at three different Illinois laboratories including immunohistochemistry testing at the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine, polymerase chain reaction at the Illinois Natural History Survey and nucleic acid sequence based analysis at the Illinois Department of Public Health Laboratory.

The animals included three grey squirrels from Cook County collected from August 22 through September 3, a dog from Mclean County, and a wolf sample collected August 20 from Will County.

Please be aware that the finding of clinical disease with WNV in canines (wolfs and dogs) is expected to be rare. Any detailed questions about these findings should be referred to either the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources regional offices.

Please remember that the Illinois Department of Public Health is ONLY testing dead crows or blue jays for WNV; IDPH is NOT testing other birds or mammals for WNV infection. Because of the widespread WNV activity in IL, many LHDs have stopped collecting and testing dead crows and jays.

Winnebago County Health Department continues to test dogs for WNV to help further evaluate their potential use as sentinels for human illness.

Mike Thomas, DO, MPH&TM

Bioterrorism Epidemiologist

Winnebago County Health Department

401 Division Street, Rockford, Illinois 61104

(815) 720-4215

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