By Jonathan Gneiser
For the Stevens Point Journal
Wednesday, September 10, 2003

MARSHFIELD - Recent West Nile animal victims, including a bald eagle that died at the Wildwood Zoo on Sept. 3, signal the virus has taken hold in Wood County.

"I think we can assume the virus is here in Wood County and the only thing we can do is watch our lawns and take our own measures to make sure we're not bitten," said Nancy Eggleston, environmental health supervisor for the Wood County Health Department. "Resi-dents should be taking some personal measures to avoid mosquito bites."

The dry weather has decreased the number of mosquitoes, but one particular breed can tough it out when there's no rain, said Jennifer Meece, a specialist in mosquito-borne in-fectious diseases and postdoctoral fellow at the Marshfield Clinic Re-search Foundation.

Although there is no treatment for birds with West Nile virus, some eagles have recovered, said Nick Derene, a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduate student for Raptor Education Group of Antigo. The Antigo-based group is the only facility in the world that has West Nile-recovered bald eagles, Derene said.

Derene, who will lead a UWSP study on the effects of West Nile after recovery, said he hopes to release four of the six birds this winter. The study will show if the birds can reproduce or if they'll relapse and die, he said. The scope of the study may shrink if funding doesn't become available.

Researchers are also trying to understand why some animals can fight the virus off while others can't, Meece said.

Vaccines are available for those with horses and captive birds, though the three-part vaccination series can cause stresses to the birds, should be given in the spring and isn't 100 percent effective, Meece said.