Brian Laird on WNYC, did your neighborhood get sprayed with pesticides last night?

Now we'll discuss how New York is grappling with West Nile virus, a COVID spike, and the possible return

of M-Pox all at the same time. The spraying to kill mosquitoes that might carry West Nile was

in Upper Manhattan. Tonight it will be in parts of Brooklyn. Did you hear, by the way, that

Anthony Fauci was recently hospitalized with West Nile virus? So we'll update you on the newest generation of viruses in our area, also the newest generation

of the COVID vaccine and who's being advised to get it and when.

We may also touch on questions about HIV and polio in the news, all with Eliza Fawcett, New York City reporter for

HealthBeat.org, a new public health news site. Eliza, thanks for coming on. Welcome to WNYC.

Thanks so much for having me. Would you like to introduce people to HealthBeat first? What is this

new news organization? Absolutely. We are a new public health focused nonprofit newsroom. We're from

Civic News Company, which your listeners might know from chalkbeat and vote beat, and we're

partnered with KFF Health News. So we're starting out in New York and Atlanta and really excited to

dig into hyperlocal public health issues.

Great. So can we start with hyperlocal West Nile virus? Why is that in the news again in New York?

Absolutely. Well, West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne disease that's found across the United States.

New York City reported its first human cases of West Nile

virus last week, so humans can get West Nile when mosquitoes feed on infected birds and then

bite people. In the vast majority of cases, it leads to asymptomatic or mild disease,

but in rare cases, it can be severe or even fatal.

Obviously, with Dr. Fauci, you know, he was hospitalized, so he had a more severe form of the

disease. There's no vaccine for West Nile, and there's no specific treatment for it either.

So the best way to protect against it is to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes.

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