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Close Reading of “Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York” by John Shea (2012)

Chunk One Outbreak! A mystery illness strikes in New York City.

Main Idea (one sentence in your own When the phone rings in Dr. Ned Hayes' office, it's not likely to be
about a single sick person. Usually, it's lots of them. They're
words):
dropping like flies from some mysterious illness.

Hayes in an epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control and

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
Prevention (CDC). Epidemiologists investigate epidemics –
outbreaks of disease that infect large numbers of people. They
study and try to stop infectious diseases. Those are diseases that
are spread through water, food, air, body fluids, or by carriers such
as insects and birds.

In 1999, Hayes got a somewhat unusual call. In New York City,

people were coming down with a strange virus. And it appeared
that they had caught the virus from mosquitoes.

That was exactly the kind of case that set Hayes abuzz. Diseases
that are spread by insects or other living things are known as
vector-borne illnesses. Hayes is a specialist in vector-borne diseases
spread by insects. If insects are making people sick, it's up to Hayes
to step in before whole communities – or even whole countries –
become infected.

Would Hayes be able to save New York City from falling prey to
deadly mosquitoes?

Chunk Two Search for the Vector: Scientists investigate a mysterious

virus. Meanwhile, a killer is on the loose.
Main Idea (one sentence in your own
words): Dr. Ned Hayes met with his colleagues at the CDC. The CDC
monitors epidemics and other events that threaten public health.

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
The CDC scientists were perplexed. Doctors in New York City were
reporting mysterious cases of encephalitis. That's the term for a
dangerous inflammation, or swelling, of the brain. It's often fatal.
One doctor saw two cases in a matter of days. And six cases were
reported in the same neighborhood.
Viruses
Encephalitis can be caused by a virus. Viruses are extremely tiny.
They grow and reproduce inside the cells of a host plant or animal.
There are thousands of kinds of viruses. If the conditions are right,
they can cause serious diseases in their hosts.

*Excerpts taken from: Shea, John. Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2012. Print.
 The doctors in New York tested the sick patients for the viruses that
most commonly cause encephalitis. The patients' test results were
negative for those viruses. That meant that they had been infected
by a more unusual virus.

But how had they gotten the virus? Many of the infected patients
lived near each other. The New York doctors suspected that they
had all been infected by the same vector – or carrier – of the virus.
That vector was most likely mosquitoes.

Scientists at the CDC asked the New York City Health Department
for the patients' blood samples. These samples were tested. Results
showed that the New Yorkers were indeed suffering from a
mosquito-borne virus.

Chunk Three Disease Cycle

The patients appeared to have a viral disease called St. Louis

Main Idea (one sentence in your own
encephalitis. It's carried by mosquitoes that belong to a group
words):
known as Culex.

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
The mosquitoes get the virus by feeding on infected birds. Then the
infected mosquitoes pass the virus on to humans. Typically, neither
birds nor mosquitoes are harmed by St. Louis virus. Most people
don't suffer any symptoms either. But the virus can cause
headaches and fevers. And some people, especially the elderly, can
get very sick.

Hayes and the other scientists at the CDC were stunned. In the
previous 40 years, there had been fewer than 5,000 cases of St.
Louis encephalitis – and none in New York City. Why the sudden
outbreak, they wondered.

The CDC had a mystery on its hands. How had so many people
come down with the same rare disease?

Bird Killer

Before the scientists could take a guess, the mystery deepened. At

about the same time that the virus started infecting people in New
York, another phone rang in the offices of the CDC.

A veterinarian at New York City's Bronx Zoo had troubling news.

Some of the flamingos in the zoo's birdhouse had died. Corpses of
other birds also littered the grounds of the zoo. And they all tested
positive for a mosquito-borne virus!

*Excerpts taken from: Shea, John. Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2012. Print.
 Was the killer virus at the zoo related to the virus that had infected
the New Yorkers?

Chunk Four The Missing Link: Is there a link between the sick people and
the dead birds?
Main Idea (one sentence in your own
words): The scientists at the CDC were stumped. It seemed like too much of
a coincidence for birds and humans to get sick with mosquito-borne
viruses at the same time. But it also didn't seem possible for those
viruses to be related. After all, the humans had been diagnosed
with St. Louis virus. And that virus doesn't kill birds!

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go Perhaps whatever was killing the birds at the Bronx Zoo was
with the main idea): something different than the virus that was making New Yorkers
sick.

Ned Hayes and the other scientists had to figure out what virus had
killed the birds at the zoo.

Chunk Five West Nile Virus

It was time to reach out for more help. Veterinarians at the Bronx
Main Idea (one sentence in your own
Zoo sent the dead birds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
words):
(USDA). The USDA can test for any mosquito-related disease.

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
A few days later, the test results were in. The birds tested positive
for West Nile virus. West Nile was first discovered in 1937 in
Uganda, a country in Africa. It's where the Nile River begins. The
disease had never been seen in the United States before.
Carefully, scientists began to unravel the mystery. They discovered
that the blood tests done on the sick New Yorkers had not been
interpreted correctly. The patients hadn't been infected by St. Louis
virus. Like the birds, they had West Nile virus. The virus had
probably infected the birds first. Then mosquitoes fed on the
infected birds and passed the virus on to humans. The virus was
fatal to birds. But the humans had a chance for recovery.

*Excerpts taken from: Shea, John. Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2012. Print.
 Chunk Six Coast to Coast: Is there any way to stop West Nile virus?

Main Idea (one sentence in your own How did West Nile virus get to the United States? Dr. Hayes says we
may never know for sure.
words):
Possibly an infected mosquito hitched a ride on an airplane. Or a
diseased bird could have ended up in New York. "All it would take is
one mosquito and one bird to find each other for the whole
transmission cycle to begin," says Hayes.

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
There were many more questions to answer. Scientists wanted to
find out how many New Yorkers were infected with the West Nile
virus. To answer that question, Hayes had to gather more
information. The CDC organized a survey of New Yorkers to find out
how many of them were sick with West Nile.

Surveyors went door-to-door to hundreds of homes in New York.

They asked whether anyone at the address had been sick recently.
If so, what were their symptoms? Had they been near any dead
birds?

Chunk Seven Going Viral

The next question for Hayes was just as important. Was it possible
Main Idea (one sentence in your own
to stop the virus from spreading? The results of the CDC's survey
words):
suggested that more than 8,000 New Yorkers were infected with
West Nile virus. Birds in the nearby states of Connecticut, New
Jersey, and Maryland also tested positive, fueling fears that the
virus was on the move.

Supporting Details (2-3 facts that go
with the main idea):
"We sat back and realized the scope of what we had," Hayes says.
"There was a new virus in our ecosystem."
Over the next few years, Hayes and a team of scientists watched
West Nile spread across the United States. For a time, states in the
South and Midwest appeared to be hardest hit. "Right now, it's
endemic to the United States," Hayes says. That means the virus
will always be here. Scientists believe it will flare up during the
summer and fall every year.

*Excerpts taken from: Shea, John. Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2012. Print.
 Killer on the Loose

Is there a cure for West Nile? No. Scientists have created a drug
that protects horses from the virus, but it's not safe for humans to
use. For now, scientists work with public-health groups to teach
Americans about West Nile. "Our best strategy is prevention,"
Hayes says. "We can't kill the mosquito. We can't kill the virus. The
only thing we can do is teach people how not to get sick."

Reflection Questions:
1. What is an epidemiologist?

2. What is an epidemic?

3. What is encephalitis?

4. Explain the viral disease St. Louis encephalitis.

5. How can the USDA help the CDC?

6. What is the West Nile virus and how did it affect the United States?

*Excerpts taken from: Shea, John. Bitten! Mosquitoes Infect New York. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2012. Print.