Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Special report: "Indiana University Southeast West Nile Virus Program Completes Mission."

By Tim Deatrick, NAC correspondent.

Four years ago, Dr. Claude Baker, PhD. Biology, was contacted by the Clark, Floyd and Harrison County Health Departments for a vital mission: West Nile Virus was on its way and the local area needed an army to combat it.

Baker took the mission, and due to the dedication, hard work and services rendered by over two hundred IUS students and community volunteers, the Southern Indiana communities are significantly more prepared and capable of reducing the risk of West Nile.

“A university has a higher mission to serve its community,” Baker said. "The local health departments needed our help and our students rose to the challenge and made a real difference. That’s what we strive for here at IUS, student achievement and service to the community.”

According to Baker, West Nile Virus was first detected in southern Indiana in 2001 in dead crows and blue jays. Following a service request from the local southern Indiana health departments, mosquito collections began in the fall of 2002 with the IU Southeast ecology class collecting 20 sites in Clark County and 12 in Floyd County. Mosquitoes were bagged and shipped to the Indiana Department of Health and tested for West Nile Virus, results showed that the virus was well established in the area and was being amplified during drought conditions in late summer and fall.

In 2003, Harrison County needed help and once again, Baker’s team answered the call. “Harrison County had a growing mosquito problem,” Baker said. “We took our model from the previous year and put it to work in Harrison County. After three years and over 10,000 mosquitoes collected with no positive results, the West Nile virus epidemic is over in Harrison County.”

Baker pointed to a milestone discovery in 2004 when IUS students discovered the new exotic Asian mosquito in Clark County, Ochlerotatus japonicus, the Japanese Rock Pool mosquito, a high risk West Nile species due to its cold tolerance and its high tendency to carry the virus.

Baker explained that the mosquito probably arrived via international commerce and tends to migrate along Railroad corridors. ‘This species was traced by molecular genetic testing to Hokkaido, Japan,” Baker stated. “ What makes this mosquito a significant health threat is its ability to carry West Nile Virus, St. Louis encephalitis. Eastern equine encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis, and its cold tolerant.”

In 2005, the program’s last year, the IUS team made history again with the first confirmed Oc. japonicus West Nile Virus mosquito pool in Indiana at a site in Clark County.

Baker summarized the benefits and significance of the West Nile program in both quantitative and qualitative terms. “The overall value to the local health departments has been nearly $500,000 based on the number of students who worked on the project,” Baker said.

“More important, however, is that the local health departments are now more equipped to combat and aggressively treat to prevent the spread of the virus and the public is more informed on ways to minimize positive West Nile breeding habitats, and are more educated on the public health risk associated with the disease. Our mission is accomplished.”

Editor's note: There is an excellent West Nile project presentation at Dr. Baker's IUS web site.

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