Nation’s Leading Medical Experts Discuss West Nile Threat With Washington Lawmakers
By Joe Crea
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2002–As West Nile virus cases continue to increase, two Senate panels held a joint hearing Tuesday on the health threats the virus poses and the overall adequacy of the federal and state response.
“The goal of our hearing is to determine whether all necessary steps are being taken by federal, state and local governments to assist communities afflicted by the West Nile fever,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in his opening remarks.
The committee, together with the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia, heard sworn testimony from Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Jesse Goodman, the Deputy Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Gerberding, whose husband contracted a mild strain of the West Nile virus, said the CDC continues to work to strengthen the nation’s public health infrastructure, one of the best defenses against any disease outbreak.
Kennedy criticized the Bush Administration’s “serious cutbacks” in the public health infrastructure. Gerberding was ambivalent about whether more money was required.
“The system is stretched,” she said. “However, we’ve done the best we can with the resources we have.”
Gerberding also urged the public to take precautionary measures such as draining standing water, a haven for mosquitoes, and encouraged individuals, especially older people, to wear insect repellent containing DEET, a chemical that impairs mosquitoes’ ability to detect human scents.
The lawmakers seemed reassured that the nation’s blood supply was safe as Goodman chronicled and detailed the discriminating donor screening, blood testing and quarantining. He also said that in recent years, there has been a “remarkable decrease” in the transmission of viral diseases through blood, and he encouraged the public to continue donating, because the demand is considerable and the supply remains low.
Responding to a question about how grave a threat the West Nile virus posed to the public, Fauci said the disease would not kill large numbers of people–like HIV, which has taken 23 million lives–but still remains important.
“This is not a massive public health crisis, but it’s something that shouldn’t be written off as trivial,” said Fauci, who predicted that a vaccine would be available within the next few years.
Kennedy said that in the fight against the virus, “the battlegrounds will be our nation’s emergency rooms and the heroes will be our nation’s health care professionals. To win this war we need to restore funding for hospitals, invest in the training of doctors and nurses and rebuild our public health capacity. The price of victory may be high but the cost of defeat is higher still.”
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
