On top of that, tests are done each week on some 600 pools of mosquitoes shipped in on dry ice from around the state. It adds up to a lot of work. Kramer came out from California in May to head the lab and has been hustling to keep up since. New York is one of 17 states, along with the District of Columbia, that keep surveillance on West Nile in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control. The states stretch along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas.
Efforts vary among the states.
Wis. The work is not expected to let up anytime soon. Kramer said the virus is increasing. Stone said a let-up might not be in sight until a little after Labor Day. With luck, disease-carrying mosquitoes will perish with the first frost. That would give Stone a chance to get back to pathology work that was put on a back burner, things like checking contaminated turtles and diseased ducks.