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West Nile Virus
Installed on 21 August 2002. - Latest Update 09 May 2006
The purpose of this web page is to collate data and news items pertaining to West Nile
Virus (WNV) and to examine the correlation (or non-correlation) between Venus inferior
conjunctions with Earth and documented initial cases of new West Nile
Virus outbreaks.
Key Words: aerobiology, exobiology, gamma ray bursts, solar wind, space weather,
life on venus, origin of west nile virus
See:
West Nile Virus, Polio-like Symptoms
24 September 2002
Link to an article on WNV vs HIV to go here.
Article is on hold. The gist of the article is that a
correspondent in Montreal Canada reports that, after having a traumatic
bout with what appeared to be West Nile Virus (He observed a mosquito
biting him shortly before the WNV symptoms began.) his CD4 count increased
dramatically. He thinks that there may be a turf war, so to
speak, going on between the two viruses (virus versus virus), and that he
has a preferential winner. [Added 05 Dec 2005. Updated 09 May 2006.]
The null hypothesis in this paper is that there is no significant correlation between
whatever Venus does and new outbreaks (of unknown origin) of West Nile Virus.
The metric being used is the time differential between Venus inferior conjunctions
and initial cases of West Nile Virus in geographical regions where transmission
of the disease from other terrestrial regions is in question.
The author is, of course, actually looking for evidence to support the opposite-hypothesis,
i.e., that truly new outbreaks of West Nile Virus (as part of a broad spectrum of viruses
and/or bacteria, which are transported from Venus to Earth by the solar wind) will usually
manifest themselves 30 to 60 days following Venus Inferior conjunctions. The stated
period includes one or two days to make the interplanetary trip and the rest of the time
is required to for the microbes to filter down to Earth's biosphere.
Symptoms of West Nile virus
According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms of West Nile virus
include fever, headache and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash on the trunk of the
body and swollen lymph glands. More severe infection may be marked by headache, high
fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness,
paralysis, and rarely death. Add poliolike symptoms to the list.
First Recorded Study of West Nile Virus -1937
Unless new information comes to light, the first case of West Nile virus to
be subjected to scientific study was brought to medical attention in December
1937 at Omugo
(Omogo), West Nile district, Northern Province of Uganda. That case (and
the subsequent viral characterization process) was documented by members of
the Yellow Fever Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda in 1940.(1)
The researchers provided no information as to when people or animals in the area first began
to have symptoms of what they came to call West Nile virus. They did report: "The
sera of five individuals, exclusive of the source of the virus, residing in the West Nile district
were tested and one was found to contain virus-neutralizing antibodies, indicating that
immunity to the virus is probably not uncommon in that area." p. 486, ref (1).
In light of the Venus origin idea about viral and bacterial life forms being promoted
in this collection of articles, the following statement by the researchers, about West Nile virus, might
come to be of particular interest.
"The acidophilic degeneration of nerve cells in the cerebrum and of the Purkinje cells
induced by the West Nile virus would appear to be a unique and distinguishing feature.
p. 491, ref (1). (Emphasis added.)
Unless otherwise advised, this writer interprets the use of the word
acidophilic as implying that the West Nile virus causes the
production of acids harmful to its host, which may imply that it thrives
in acidic environments. (Modified 15 Sep 2002.)
The writer has been otherwise advised. A correspondent has furnished the following info.
FYI: "acidophilic" and "basophilic" is an older term that was used generally to describe how
[things inside] cells took up stains, ie., DNA, being acid, was basophilic (as I recall), taking up
basic dyes, whereas most cytoplasm I think was basic in nature and took up acidic stains. ... It has
more to do with cell chemistry than outside matters.
(Thanks to M.W. MacGown of Chattanooga, TN. 13 September 2002)
Whatever the specific meaning is for acidophilic degeneration, as used in the referenced
paper, a question of importance to this current research is when, year and month, did this
unique form of degeneration first become evident? Going perhaps a little further back.
When were cases of the new illness first symptomatically differentiated from Yellow Fever?
Although there is currently no vaccination or known cure for WNV, it may
be of interest to note that the original researchers (in 1938-1940) found
that guinea pigs appeared to be immune to WNV and that guinea pig serum
(for the ones they had at their research station) was toxic to the virus.
Ref (1) p. 480.
Top
Shown here is a summary of information (found to date) on WNV outbreaks. The
delays (in days) between the Venus inferior conjunctions and the outbreaks are included.
Approximate dates are marked with tilde's (~). As better data comes in, the table and it's
associated histogram will be updated. First cases in given countries are shown
in bold.
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