West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus is a flavivirus commonly found in Africa, West Asia, and the Middle East. Since 1999 the virus has also been found in some parts of North America. While the virus has spread to most parts of Canada, it has not yet been found in British Columbia. The virus is carried by certain species of mosquitoes and can infect humans, birds, horses and some other mammals.

WNV is extremely rare. The BC Centre for Disease Control has estimated that in a worst-case scenario in BC, ½ of 1% of the population could become infected. Of that small percentage of individuals that could be infected the vast majority (80%) would experience no symptoms and would not even realize they had the virus. Others would experience mild flu-like symptoms, while only 1% of those that contract the virus would have a more severe reaction.

Despite the low level of risk, many municipalities and provincial governments have chosen to adopt strategies to combat WNV that utilize dangerous pesticides to control mosquitoes. In the spring of 2003 citizens urging for an ecological strategy to combat WNV formed the Canadian Coalition for Health and Environment (CCHE) calling for a nation-wide restraint on the use of pesticides to control mosquitoes. For more information see the CCHE website.

Other sources of information on WNV:

Environmental Risk Analysis Program - West Nile Virus (Cornell University)

West Nile Virus (Health Canada)

West Nile Virus, Healthy Wetlands and Natural Predators (Federation of BC Naturalists) (pdf)

West Nile Virus/Mosquito Management (Beyond Pesticides)

West Nile Virus Surveillance Program (Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre)