A link to this site can be found under 'Other Australian and international communicable diseases sites' on the Communicable Diseases Australia homepage. Previously it had been thought that the virus was only transmitted through mosquito bites. The infected birds died 5 to 8 days later. Most of the initially uninfected birds, the researchers found, also became infected and died 5 to 8 days after the first infected bird died. For example, they may provide clues as to why this virus might be so slow in disseminating and why chickens and mosquitoes might not be infected when crows are infected in the same areas.
Mosquitoes are the primary means of transmission of the virus between birds and to humans.
These are interesting thoughts about the future course of West Nile virus infection in North America. As of 7 November 2000, the Ugandan Ministry of Health has reported cumulative figures of 284 cases including 91 deaths. The outbreak was confirmed on 14 October 2000 and was first detected in the Gulu district 223 miles north of Kampala. Other cases of patients dying of high fever have been reported in Mbarara and Kitagata hospitals in Western Uganda, but a link with the Ebola outbreak had not been established. He infected the other two.