The California Department of Health Services today confirmed that a Los Angeles County woman is the state's first documented case of West Nile virus. This effort is the result of a collaboration between UC Davis, the Department of Health Services' viral laboratory, Los Angeles county's public health laboratory and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vector-borne disease laboratory in Fort Collins, Colo.

Assisting in the investigation was UC Davis' Thomas Scott, an expert in the ecology and evolution of mosquitoes and how they transmit diseases such as West Nile virus, dengue fever, yellow fever and St. Louis encephalitis. Scott is an entomology professor and director of the Davis Arbovirus Research Unit. The laboratory provided assistance by performing antibody tests to help differentiate West Nile virus from related mosquito-borne virus infections.

Scott can discuss specific diagnostic techniques, how scientists carry out disease surveillance, and how ecology and environmental factors influence the spread of a virus such as West Nile into a new area. Insect-borne diseases are likely to grow in importance as international travel becomes easier and human populations move into new areas, according to Scott. His research group is involved in projects in various countries including Thailand and Peru. The researchers work with other university, state and local groups on surveillance for West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in California.

More information: http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/scott/index.cfm.

Contact: Tom Scott, Entomology, (530) 754-4196, twscott@ucdavis.edu.

More information on the official confirmation is available at the California Department of Health Services Web site at http://www.dhs.ca.gov.

Media contacts:

-- Patricia Bailey, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu

-- Lea Brooks, California Department of Health Services, Public Affairs, (916) 657-3065, Lbrooks@dhs.ca.gov

OTHER UC DAVIS SOURCES ON WEST NILE VIRUS

For more information or for topics not listed here, contact Patricia Bailey, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu, or Andy Fell, (530) 752-4533, ahfell@ucdavis.edu.

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* Insect-transmitted diseases

* Transmission of viruses

* West Nile virus, vaccines and horses

* Emerging viral diseases

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INSECT-TRANSMITTED DISEASES -- Gregory Lanzaro is a medical entomologist and director of the University of California Mosquito Research Program, which is based at UC Davis. He has active research on the genetics and population biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria in West Africa and leishmaniasis in Latin America. He can discuss tropical and emerging insect-transmitted diseases of humans and animals, including existing and developing mosquito-control strategies. Contact: Gregory Lanzaro, UC Mosquito Research Program, (530) 752-6983, gclanzaro@ucdavis.edu.

TRANSMISSION OF VIRUSES -- John Edman is a professor of medical entomology and director of the Center for Vector Borne Diseases at UC Davis. He has over 40 years of research experience with mosquito-transmitted diseases. He has conducted extensive field studies on the vectors of viruses such as dengue and St. Louis encephalitis in the eastern and central United States and in Puerto Rico and Thailand. He has published extensively on the blood-feeding behavior of mosquitoes and can answer questions related to the transmission of West Nile fever, vector control and the general life history of the disease. Contact: John Edman, Center for Vector Borne Diseases, (530) 754-5520, jdedman@ucdavis.edu.

WEST NILE VIRUS, VACCINES AND HORSES -- Gregory Ferraro is director of the Center for Equine Health at UC Davis. He is working, with other UC Davis researchers, on an improved West Nile vaccine that could be used in horses or humans. The current vaccine is only approved for use in horses, and its effectiveness is not proven, he said. Ferraro has also been involved in surveillance of horses in the Coachella Valley, Calif., for West Nile infection in collaboration with the California departments of Health and Human Resources, and Food and Agriculture. More information: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/wnv_bb.html. Contact: Greg Ferraro, Center for Equine Health, (530) 752-6433, glferraro@ucdavis.edu.

EMERGING VIRAL DISEASES -- Frederick Murphy is an internationally known expert on viruses and viral diseases, including rabies, encephalitis and hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. Emerging infectious diseases such as West Nile virus and bioterrorist attacks, for example with anthrax or smallpox, pose a dual threat. Murphy can discuss how outbreaks of such diseases can be detected and what steps authorities can take to prepare for these threats. Murphy is a dean emeritus of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and formerly served as the director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Contact: Fred Murphy, School of Veterinary Medicine, (530) 754-6175, famurphy@ucdavis.edu.