In N.Y. - More people reported symptoms from pesticide than WNV
Albany Times Union
By SYLVIA WOOD and DINA CAPPIELLO, Staff writers First published: Friday, June 15, 2001
Albany-- More people reported symptoms from pesticide than from the virus last year
Significantly more people reported being sick from the pesticides used to combat West Nile virus last year than came down with the illness, according to figures released Thursday by the state health department.
The findings come just a few months after the state already changed its controversial policy on spraying, a strategy used by numerous counties last year, including Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer, to combat the virus. County health officials statewide claimed that Anvil, the most prevalent chemical used in the fight against West Nile, was safe. Environmental advocates countered that it was ineffective and potentially harmful to human health.
According to the health department, 22 people were added to the state's pesticide poisoning registry last year by health care professionals for symptoms such as headaches and nausea believed to be related to spraying for West Nile virus.
Of those, state health officials said seven cases were probably linked to the mosquito spraying and another 13 cases were possible. The other two cases were less likely to be pesticide poisonings.
Overall, more than 200 people reported symptoms, most often after Anvil was sprayed, without seeing a physician. By comparison, only 14 people became sick in 2000 from the virus, including one person who died.
"When you are talking about using pesticides to address a virus, you are talking about two different health hazards,'' said Audrey Thier of Environmental Advocates in Albany. "You are balancing two different health hazards. When you are using pesticides in a residential area people will be exposed.''
Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management, the Illinois-based company that sprayed Anvil in New York state in 2000, said there is no proof that the illnesses came from its product, which is a common ingredient in flea control and head lice shampoos.
"There is no evidence to suggest that Anvil caused any health problems in the state of New York last year, or anywhere where it was applied to help control mosquitoes,'' said Julie Jacobs, a spokeswoman.
The state emphasized Thursday that its switch in policy was precipitated by the discovery that the virus has already migrated to 61 of New York's 62 counties, rather than illnesses related to pesticides. This year, chemicals like Anvil will only be sprayed when there is a imminent risk to human health.
"The spraying is going to be a last resort,'' said Dr. Antonia Novello, health commissioner, at a briefing for the media on the virus.
Since 1999, state and local officials have spent more than $30 million on efforts such as spraying and educational campaigns to contain the virus, which over the past two years has killed eight of the 76 people infected.
But just how big a risk the West Nile virus poses to New Yorkers remains unclear. Research by the health department on Staten Island showed that the risk of infection was less than 1 percent of the population. On Thursday, state health officials justified their efforts against the virus, even though other illnesses, including Lyme disease, have sickened many more people.
"West Nile is a new disease in this hemisphere,'' said Bryon Backenson, assistant director of the Arthropod-Borne Disease Program. "We have to find out as much as we can about it. ... It would be irresponsible of us not to put as much emphasis as we can on it.''
In the past, the illness was believed to pose the greatest risk to those people over 50 with compromised immune systems. But on Thursday, Kristine Smith, a health department spokeswoman, said that age, rather than immune status, seems to be the biggest predictor.
In both 1999 and 2000, the median age of people who came down with the virus was over 68 and 62, respectively, with most of the victims male.
A study published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine on an outbreak in New York City in 1999 that sickened 62, killing seven, found that many of victims had underlying chronic medical problems, including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
In trying to assess human risk this year, state health officials said Thursday they plan to rely on reports of dead crows, a species of bird that seems to be most vulnerable to the virus.
Last year, reports of dead crows spiked in Staten Island at a density of more than five per square mile just before the first human illnesses were diagnosed. "What the dead crow density is offering is a window on the risk of human disease occurring,'' said Millicent Eidson, the state's veterinarian and an assistant professor at the University at Albany.
But Eidson said the dead crow density will be just one factor in gauging the spread of the illness. State health officials are also urging local counties to test mosquitoes.
Novello said she believed state health officials are doing a good job so far this year of keeping the virus under control with only two reports of infected birds, in Westchester and Rockland counties. "Here we are almost June 15 and we're in good shape,'' she said.
But health officials warned that New Yorkers should not get complacent. The virus tends to have its biggest impact on humans in August, after getting well-established in birds and mammals.
"I don't want New Yorkers to be panicked. I don't want them to be worried,'' Novello said. "I want them to be well-informed.''
"The mosquito is here. It's all over the state of New York.''
Copyright 2001, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y. The information you receive online from Times Union is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material.
If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, Email Us. with "subscribe" in the subject line.