West Nile Surveillance Data

Human Surveillance Data

The Public Health System and Local Public Health Departments routinely collect information on the occurence of disease in a population or community. When this information is submitted by doctors, hospitals and laboratories by fax or mail on a routine basis, it is called "Passive Surveillance". When the public health system is interested in an extra level of precaution because of possible serious disease outbreaks, a system of "Active Surveillance" may be instituted. Active surveillance involves "actively" telephoning hospitals and/or selected health care providers to gather data quickly. The metro area public health departments participating in the West Nile Virus (WNV) workgroup have been collecting active surveillance data on certain conditions that have symtoms similar to human cases of WNV for the last three years. (St. Louis County has conducted the surveillance for the Metro area) This has given us three years of "baseline" data; two during normal years with no human WNV and one year (2002) when human WNV entered the area. Now, as we begin a fourth year of active surveillance, we have watch for any trend that might signal the beginning of another outbreak of WNV in humans by watching for an abnormal increase in these reports. We are providing the complete data collection spreadsheet so that those who might be interested in the data, especially health and public health professionals, will have easy access to it. It is interesting to note that the same type of active surveillance (for different conditions) is being used to watch for any indication of a bioterrorist attack.

The most recent data can be seen by clicking here: Download MS Excel Report

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Please note that this report is in Microsoft® Excel Format. If you do not have MS Excel and would like to view the report, you may download a free Excel Viewer directly from Microsoft by clicking here. The viewer will allow you to view and print MS Excel files even if you do not have Excel installed on your computer.

Depending on the configuration of your computer, browser, and Excel, you may be able to view the spreadsheet by clicking on the link above. To save it to your computer right click your mouse and choose "Save As" from the pop-up menu.

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Dead Bird Surveillance Data

A sudden increase in dead or dying crows, bluejays and hawks has been found to be a good indicator of increased risk of human cases of West Nile Virus (WNV). Surveillance for dead birds in the metro area has been taking place since late spring. The reports are being plotted on a map using GIS sofware. Please note that the dead birds on the map are not known to have died from WNV. If there is a sudden increase, however, it will be obvious and there is a good chance that WNV is the cause. St. Louis County is doing the mapping componet of the project for the metro area.

You can see the latest map by clicking here: Download MS Word Document

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Please note that this report is in Microsoft® Word Format. If you do not have MS Word and would like to view the report, you may download a free Word Viewer directly from Microsoft by clicking here. The viewer will allow you to view and print MS Word files even if you do not have Word installed on your computer.

Depending on the configuration of your computer, browser, and Word, you may be able to view the document by clicking on the link above. To save it to your computer right click your mouse and choose "Save As" from the pop-up menu.

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