Was West Nile Virus brought to the United States by bioterrorists?
In the Sept 13, 2002 New York Times, Senator Patrick Leahy is quoted* as asking for investigation into the possibility that the current WNV outbreak is a result of biological terrorism. This question was asked before, at the time of the initial WNV outbreak in NYC in 1999. Evidence (and logic) indicated that the answer is “no,” although we do not know if the rejection of this hypothesis has been expressed formally and/or officially. In press briefings in that first year, CDC listed bioterrorism as one of the possible means by which WNV might have entered this country, but spokespersons did not seem to support the hypothesis nor to bring it up more recently.** An article in the New Yorker — West Nile Mystery: How did it get here? The C.I.A. would like to know. Richard Preston. Oct 18 & 25, 1999 — focused attention on this hypothesis, but presented a body of evidence that essentially rejected it. For example: “An Army expert on bioweapons told me [Richard Preston] that the military has
