Is the Spread of West Nile Virus the Work of Terrorists?
BLITZER: Welcome back. Federal health officials say the West Nile Virus is in its peak transmission period and has claimed at least 54 lives in the United States this year. And two new cases reported in Massachusetts could bring the total to 56. The largest number of deaths have been in Illinois, Louisiana and Ohio. Mosquitoes carry the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that organ transplants can spread it as well. The CDC's latest tally of 54 dead, not including the Massachusetts cases, are among 1,295 known human West Nile cases in the country. One of the senators targeted by anthrax through the mail last year is wondering whether terrorists may now be spreading West Nile Virus. The Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, raised that possibility yesterday in a radio interview.</s>SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I think we have to ask ourselves is it a coincidence that we're seeing such an increase of West Nile Virus, or is that being tested as a biological weapon against us?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Wolf? We talked to experts today, and they said absolutely not. From what they can tell, they said there's no evidence that terrorism has spread this disease, and there's every evidence that just plain old biology has spread it. West Nile Virus is an example of an emerging infection. It was first seen in Uganda in 1937 and since then has followed a pattern that would be considered normal for this type of emerging infection. Normal microbiology does it on its own, without the help of terrorists. It spread through Europe, Africa, the Middle East. It came to the East Coast of the United States in 1999 and then came to the West Coast of the United States just this year. So the experts say they really don't see any evidence that this was spread by people. In fact, they said if you wanted to have a weapon of mass destruction, you would not use West Nile Virus. More than 99 percent of the people who get the virus recover completely. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of these people don't feel a thing. They don't even know that they're sick. So this would not be the best choice as a weapon of mass destruction -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And so basically what you're saying, Elizabeth; I just want to be precise. The notion of the West Nile Virus being a source of potential terrorism out there, the CDC and other experts don't believe that's possible?</s>COHEN: They don't think that's true. They said that there's no reason to think that this would be something terrorists would do, partly, as I said, because the way that it's spread throughout the world is just the way that emerging infections usually spread throughout the world. There's nothing unusual; there's nothing weird that looks like humans were somehow involved in this. It's just anything other than just plain old biology did it. And it's also important to remember that you don't get West Nile by inhaling it. It's not like anthrax where you can get an infection just by inhaling it. Inhaling it would really be a terrorist weapon of choice, because then you could infect a whole bunch of people at one time. West Nile Virus is only spread by either mosquitoes or by receiving an organ donation and that's a pretty, relatively slow way of spreading things. Again, you wouldn't get it by inhaling it; you would get it by eating tainted meat or something like that. So if a terrorist chose to do West Nile, that would be a pretty -- a not very bright choice.</s>BLITZER: All right. I wonder where Senator Leahy even came up with this notion. I've known him for many years. He's a very smart guy. We'll have to press him on this down the road. Thank you very much, Elizabeth Cohen.</s>COHEN: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Let's turn to our justice files. A judge has postponed a hearing in the cocaine case against Florida Governor Jeb Bush's daughter because, prosecutors say, the staff at her drug rehab center are not cooperating. Noelle Bush began a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program after an arrest in January. Police in Orlando say crack cocaine was found in her shoe at the Center for Drug-Free Living on Monday. An Illinois man accused of stealing a guitar from the rock group Foreigner has drawn a most unusual sentence: he can never see the band again. "The Chicago Sun-Times" reports that Jason Sanderson was accused of swiping a $6,000 instrument from the stage at an outdoor concert in Naperville. From a rock 'n' roll lifestyle to mobster hits, "Sopranos" costar Steven Van Zandt joins us live to give us a sneak preview of the new season, when we come back.