US Government gears up to distract us with West Nile again., page 1

Here's a new article on the upcoming West Nile "epidemic"

Here's some of the highlights:

"From my own experience, I can tell you it's not a very mild illness," Petersen cautioned. "It will ruin your summer."

Experts are expecting another epidemic of the disease this summer.

"People tend to discount this as a significant problem," Petersen said, "but more than 1.5 million people have been infected so far in the United States, and about 300,000 have had West Nile fever."

Petersen mentioned that some patients with West Nile virus can develop a severe neurological disease that can be fatal.

Even by taking precautions, Petersen concluded, the disease won't be eradicated in the U.S. anytime soon. "I think West Nile virus is here to stay, and I can't tell you how many cases will occur this summer, but there will be epidemics."

Have you ever noticed that every time the government starts issuing warnings about things like this, they do something we wouldn't like while everyone is distracted? I'm not saying that West Nile itself is a conspiracy, but let's face it, the number of infections per year has stayed pretty much the same. It's doubtful that it will be significantly different this year. Yes, the disease is pretty nasty, and there will be outbreaks again this summer, but why start issuing warnings and talking about epidemics again now? Why not last year, or the year before? We've been dealing with this virus since 1999, and other than the major outbreaks in 2003, the number of annual outbreaks have stayed more-or-less between 3000 and 4000 cases a year. Why start crying "Epidemic!" now? Either the government knows something they're not telling us, or they're planning on doing something they don't want us to notice. What do you think?