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Professor Mabey, in his neat review of The Encyclopedia of Arthropod-
Transmitted Infections (1), asks us to reflect on the outbreak of West
Nile encephalitis that occurred in 1999 in New York. He further states
that this virus is ‘transmitted by mosquitoes, but endemic in birds, and
was presumably taken to the Americas by an infected bird’. This
unfortunately perpetuates a misconception previously printed in the BMJ
(2) and refuted in the electronic BMJ(3).
Extremely few birds (if any) migrate between Israel and New York. The
Atlantic Ocean poses a formidable maritime barrier for movement of land
birds between the old- and new-worlds. Transatlantic movement of land
birds in higher latitudes is an accidental event and is almost exclusively
from West to East.
Transatlantic flight is an arduous test of avian fitness: it is likely
that far more land-birds perish than make a successful landfall. New
arrivals to Europe are usually visibly exhausted, often moribund. It is
even less likely that birds that are viraemic could undertake this
remarkable feat of endurance.
Movement in the opposite direction is rarer still. The few species
involved, if carrying the virus, are far more likely to be transporting
the West African rather than Middle-eastern form of the virus, as they
tend to be from Western (probably West African) populations.
For these reasons, bird migration direct from Israel to the Americas can
effectively be discounted as the route of transmission.
The virus was much more likely to have been imported by man. The two
likeliest routes would probably be via the bird trade or stowaway
mosquitoes.
This has important implications for the prevention of importation of such
zoonoses which might be achieved by effective control of international
bird trade (both legal and illicit) and insect control in international
passenger and freight traffic.
References
(1) Mabey D The Encyclopedia of Arthropod-Transmitted Infections BMJ
2002;324:490 ( 23 February )
(2) Solomon T and Cardosa MJ. Emerging arboviral encephalitis. BMJ
2000;321:1484-1485. ( 16 December.)
BIRD MIGRATION DID NOT BRING WEST NILE VIRUS TO NEW YORK FROM ISRAEL
Professor Mabey, in his neat review of The Encyclopedia of Arthropod-
Transmitted Infections (1), asks us to reflect on the outbreak of West
Nile encephalitis that occurred in 1999 in New York. He further states
that this virus is ‘transmitted by mosquitoes, but endemic in birds, and
was presumably taken to the Americas by an infected bird’. This
unfortunately perpetuates a misconception previously printed in the BMJ
(2) and refuted in the electronic BMJ(3).
Extremely few birds (if any) migrate between Israel and New York. The
Atlantic Ocean poses a formidable maritime barrier for movement of land
birds between the old- and new-worlds. Transatlantic movement of land
birds in higher latitudes is an accidental event and is almost exclusively
from West to East.
Transatlantic flight is an arduous test of avian fitness: it is likely
that far more land-birds perish than make a successful landfall. New
arrivals to Europe are usually visibly exhausted, often moribund. It is
even less likely that birds that are viraemic could undertake this
remarkable feat of endurance.
Movement in the opposite direction is rarer still. The few species
involved, if carrying the virus, are far more likely to be transporting
the West African rather than Middle-eastern form of the virus, as they
tend to be from Western (probably West African) populations.
For these reasons, bird migration direct from Israel to the Americas can
effectively be discounted as the route of transmission.
The virus was much more likely to have been imported by man. The two
likeliest routes would probably be via the bird trade or stowaway
mosquitoes.
This has important implications for the prevention of importation of such
zoonoses which might be achieved by effective control of international
bird trade (both legal and illicit) and insect control in international
passenger and freight traffic.
References
(1) Mabey D The Encyclopedia of Arthropod-Transmitted Infections BMJ
2002;324:490 ( 23 February )
(2) Solomon T and Cardosa MJ. Emerging arboviral encephalitis. BMJ
2000;321:1484-1485. ( 16 December.)
(3) McGuigan CC. Bird migration did not bring West Nile virus direct
from Israel to New York (19 December 2000)
http://bmj.com/cgi/eletters/321/7275/1484
Competing interests: No competing interests