Kenner, La. - The Pelican State has located the first confirmed presence of West Nile Virus in the form of a dead blue jay, according to the Arbovirus Testing Laboratory (ATL) in the Louisiana School of Veterinary Medicine and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kenner, La. - The Pelican State has located the first confirmedpresence of West Nile Virus in the form of a dead blue jay, according tothe Arbovirus Testing Laboratory (ATL) in the Louisiana School of VeterinaryMedicine and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The ATL, part of the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory,is active in a disease surveillance program funded by the CDC to test forthe presence of viruses that cause encephalitis. The lab is contracted totest 200 birds, and is in its second season of testing.
The lab received a blue jay from Kenner during its routine surveillancecontract. The ATL employed current technology to evaluate tissue samplesfrom the kidney. A molecular assay, which proved positive for the virus,was conducted to identify genetic materials (RNA) specific to WNV.
The results were confirmed Aug. 14 by the CDC.