ABOVE: Culex tarsalis, a main vector of West Nile virus
CDC, JAMES GATHANY
This year is shaping up to be a bad one for West Nile virus, a pathogen that has killed at least 2,300 people in the United States since it first arrived in the country in 1999. While the toll—21 deaths as of September 21, according to statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—is much lower than the 51 deaths in 2020, case numbers tend to peak in late summer, and some states have been hit unusually hard. Arizona, for example, has reported some 97 cases and 4 deaths so far.
New York has reported 14 cases, which is enough for some politicians to raise the alarm. A press release from US Senator Charles Schumer’s office blamed this year’s unusually high mosquito activity on a “particularly wet summer and changing climate”—both of which are relevant ...
