June 10, 2000, New York Times
Dead Birds Are a Portent Of Return of West Nile Virus
   Three crows found dead -- two in New York State and one in New Jersey --
were confirmed yesterday as this year's first known victims of the West Nile
virus, the mosquito-borne disease that killed seven people in New York City
last year, health officials said.
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   Last summer's outbreak prompted widespread fear of the virus, and sweeping
efforts by city, county and state health officials to monitor for the disease
this year
and to try to eradicate the mosquito population through treatment of breeding
grounds with larvicide and public education campaigns.
    Officials hope to avoid the aerial spraying that was used last year, when
the outbreak was discovered late in the summer and many less-drastic methods
of
preventing mosquitoes from hatching would no longer have been effective.
   Yesterday's cases surfaced much earlier in the year than the first cases
last year, but Dr. Ostraff cautioned against any inference that the disease
may be more
widespread this summer. "Last year," he said, "nobody was looking for the
virus."