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wSaturday, March 05, 2005 Feb. 17, 2005 Three dead crows test positive for West Nile By MELISSA MANSFIELD Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Three dead crows found this week in the mid-Hudson Valley tested positive for the West Nile virus, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday. While there have been thousands of crows found with the virus in New York, this is only the third time infected crows have died during winter, state officials said. "We normally think of West Nile as a disease of the warm months," said state DEC wildlife pathologist Ward Stone, adding crows can have the disease in any season. Officials received a call through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "dead bird hot line" (1-866-537-BIRD) about a large number of crows dying near a roost in Poughkeepsie. Of the 26 crows state technicians found Monday, three tested positive for the virus. Toxicology reports have not determined if the virus killed them. Stone said the state is running tests to determine the precise cause. One possibility, he said, is that some of the crows could have developed resistance to the virus and lived months longer before succumbing to it. Or the virus could have changed and become less pathogenic. Another possibility is the virus was passed to the crows by something besides mosquitos, the usual summertime carrier. The birds may have ingested the carcass of an infected animal. Stone said insects other than mosquitoes could have transmitted the disease _ such as ticks or biting flies, which can live through a mild winter burrowed in crows' feathers. Investigators have returned to the roost _ on the eastern side of the Mid-Hudson Bridge partially surrounded by a highway _ to look for more dead birds. Stone said they are also widening the search to other roosts. West Nile spread from Africa and other countries and reached the New York City area in September 1999, and 10 New Yorkers have died from the illness that's since spread across the country. Statewide cases in birds dropped to roughly 200 in 2004, down from 1,367 the year before. The infection can cause symptoms including swelling of the brain. The elderly are at highest risk of serious illness or death if they contract West Nile. Before the Poughkeepsie crows, only two other birds in the state have been found infected in winter. One crow infected died when it was hit by a train in central New York, and a red-tail hawk died in Westchester. Both cases were reported almost five years ago. Stone said the new find does not pose an elevated risk to humans. "There is no way to get the virus from the crow to people because mosquitos have little activity" at this time of year, he said. "We need to understand this virus better than we do. It's going to be with us a long time." ___ On the Net: New York State Department of Health, http://www.health.state.ny.us/ New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, http://www.dec.state.ny.us/ posted by Melissa at 7:46 PM