MEXICO declared a state of emergency last week after confirmation that West Nile virus has reached the country. Doctors and scientists fear that the impact there and in other countries further south could be far worse than it has been in the US and Canada.
The virus is spread by mosquitoes and birds, which could make Latin American countries ideal breeding grounds, because of their warmer climate, large bird populations and year-round mosquitoes. Millions of Mexico’s poorest people who use horses as pack animals could be hard hit if the animals are stricken by West Nile. And people who become…
