Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Mississippi Business Journal

Too early to tell if West Nile virus will be as bad this year.

Article Excerpt
The failure of the Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) to provide timely and accurate information about the number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases in Mississippi could have reduced the impetus to deal with the problem, said Sen. Alan Nunnelee, chairman of the Senate Public Health & Welfare Committee, who held 2006 hearings into problems at the MDH.

"There was significant underreporting of West Nile Virus," Nunnelee said. "How that affects the health of most Mississippians is that we know West Nile is a mosquito-borne virus. We live in the Deep South, and mosquitoes are bad in the summertime. When the statistics are significantly underreported, it impacts local governments in the amount of resources they would dedicate to mosquito eradication. It also alerts physicians when patient presents themselves with symptoms that might be consistent with West Nile Virus. It goes way up the radar screen. That is just one aspect."

The MDH has corrected the problems with WNV reporting, says Carol Jones, a spokesperson for MDH.

"We are getting out the information as quickly as we get it," Jones said.

In both 2006 and now again in 2007, Mississippi was the...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!