Ned Michie has been informed that a dead crow was found in in the Greenbrier/Meadowbrook Heights neighborhood, on Hillwood Place, that tested positive for West Nile Virus. He stresses the importance of getting rid of all standing water in your yard every week to control mosquito breeding. (electronic mail, July 29, 2003)

"Officials at the District Health Department decided Monday to extend the no-test policy for dead birds in parts of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to all areas except the southern region around Scottsville.

'We've already had so many crows test positive, we know e have an extensive problem in this community,' said Dr. Susan McLeod, director of the [Thomas Jefferson] District Health Department....

...McLeod recommends that people in the no-test area dispose of dead crows and birds with a plastic bag or bury them, but not because of West Nile fear.

Mosquitoes feed on warm-blooded animals, and once a bird is cold, the chance that a mosquito might draw a disease from it and pass it to a person is not a signficant concern" (Ron Hasson, The Observer, August 6, 2003).

Ned Michie adds, "... in 2002 in Virginia there were 29 confirmed cases of humans with west Nile virus but that this number was probably under reported. Apparently two people died of it in Virginia last year." (electronic mail, August 6, 2003).

For more on West Nile findings, see West Nile Virus Center.