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In mosquitoes, the shortened WNV genomes reduced infection and dissemination rates, and virus titers overall, and were not detected in legs or salivary secretions at 14 or 21 days post-infection. In mice, inoculation with internally deleted genomes did not attenuate pathogenesis relative to full-length or infectious clone derived virus, and shortened genomes were not detected in mice at the time of death.

“We anticipate that this will continue and get worse over the next few years,” said Dr. Jim Casey, associate professor of virology at Cornell University. “We fear there may be more widespread presence of the virus.”One of Dr. Casey’s colleagues researching the virus, Dr. Paul Bowser, a professor of aquatic animal medicine, added, “This is a new pathogen and for the first number of years — 4, 5 or 10 years — things are going to be pretty rough, then the animals will become more immune and resistant and the mortalities will decline.”