Short report: Isolation and identification of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus from a human in Panama.

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus was isolated from a febrile human in Panama. The patient became febrile approximately 10 days after returning from Gatun Lake in Panama. The virus was isolated from the acute phase serum and identified as VEE, subtype ID virus by monoclonal antibodies, and was confirmed by cross plaque-reduction neutralization tests.

An outbreak of West Nile virus in a New York City captive wildlife population.

An outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) in and around New York City during the late summer of 1999 was the cause of extensive mortality among free-ranging birds. Within the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Park, viral activity was also observed and produced some morbidity and mortality among specimens in the zoo's bird collection and probably caused morbidity in at least one specimen from the zoo's mammal collection. To determine the extent of the outbreak and attempt to ascertain the temporal appearance of virus within the park, a serologic survey of birds and mammals was performed. The survey showed that 34% of tested birds (125 of 368; 124 species) were positive for antibody to WNV. The virus caused a disease to infection ratio of 22% (27 of 125) among birds with a 70% (19 of 27) case fatality rate. In contrast, only 8% of the mammals (9 of 117; 35 species) possessed antibody to WNV and there was no virus-associated mortality. Testing of banked and fresh sera obtained from both birds and mammals revealed that there was no evidence of WNV circulation before the 1999 outbreak and that birds introduced into the park were not the source of the New York outbreak. West Nile virus RNA was detected in tissues from one bird that died in February 2000, long after the end of the mosquito transmission season. The potential importance of zoologic parks as possible sentinels for emerging diseases is discussed.

Department of Defense West Nile virus surveillance in 2002.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has engaged in West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance and response since 1999. In 2002, the three Services continued their cooperative, multidisciplinary approach to the WNV outbreak. Activities included a doubling of mosquito surveillance and vector control responses, extension of and doubling of bird and nonhuman mammal surveillance to all four continental United States regions, expanded diagnostic testing by DoD laboratories, and installation environmental clean up and personnel protection campaigns. Medical treatment facilities conducted passive surveillance and reported possible cases in DoD health care beneficiaries. Efforts were coordinated through active communication within installations, with commands, and with surrounding communities. Undertaken activities complemented each other to maximize surveillance coverage. The surveillance detected WNV on 44 DoD installations. It led directly to vector control and prevention activities, and there were no confirmed cases of WNV reported in the DoD force. This multi-Service effort is a surveillance template for future outbreaks that threaten DoD force health.

Immune interference after sequential alphavirus vaccine vaccinations.

We compared the effect of order of administration of investigational alphavirus vaccines on neutralizing antibody response. Volunteers who received the inactivated eastern and western equine encephalitis (EEE and WEE) vaccines before live attenuated Venezuelan (VEE) vaccine had significantly lower rates of antibody response than those receiving VEE vaccine before EEE and WEE vaccines (66.7% vs. 80.6%; p=0.026). The odds of having a VEE antibody non-response among those initially receiving EEE and WEE vaccines, adjusted for gender, were significant (odds ratio [OR]=2.20; 95% CI=1.2-4.1 [p=0.0145]) as were the odds of non-response among females adjusted for group (OR=1.81; 95% CI=1.2-2.7 [p=0.0037]). Antibody interference and gender effect have major implications for vaccine strategy among those receiving multiple alphavirus vaccines and those developing next generation vaccines for these threats.