West Nile virus in the United States: Guidelines for detection, prevention, and control

The epidemic/epizootic of West Nile (WN) encephalitis in the northeastern U nited States in the summer and fall of 1999 was an unprecedented event, und erscoring the ease with which emerging Infectious pathogens can be introduc ed into new geographic areas in today's era of rapid transportation and inc reased movement of people, animals, and commodities. This epidemic/epizooti c and the increased frequency of other exotic pathogens being imported into the United States raises the issue of whether local, state, and national p ublic health agencies are prepared to deal with epidemics/epizootics of vec tor-borne infectious diseases. The overwintering of WN virus and the epizoo tic transmission in the summer of 2000 reinforces the need to rebuild the p ublic health infrastructure to deal with vector-borne diseases in this coun try. This article summarizes guidelines for surveillance, prevention, and c ontrol of WN virus that were drafted in December 1999 to help prepare state and local health departments for monitoring WN virus activity in the sprin g and summer of 2000 and also summarizes the data collected from those surv eillance systems through September 2000.