The Crab Hole Mosquito Blues | CDC EID

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Volume 17, Number 5–May 2011
Another Dimension
The Crab Hole Mosquito Blues
Karl M. Johnson, Douglas F. Antczak, William H. Dietz, David H. Martin, and Thomas E. Walton

Author affiliations: Retired (K.M. Johnson, T.E. Walton); Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (D.F. Antczak); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (W.H. Dietz); and Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (D.H. Martin)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) epizoodemics were reported at 6–10-year intervals in northern South America beginning in the 1920s. In 1937, epizootic VEE virus was isolated from infected horse brain and shown as distinct from the North American equine encephalomyelitis viruses. Subsequently, epizootic and sylvatic strains were isolated in distinct ecosystems; isolates were characterized serologically as epizootic subtype I, variants A/B and C; or sylvatic (enzootic) subtype I, variants D, E, and F, and subtypes II, III, and IV. In 1969, variant I-A/B virus was transported from a major outbreak in northern South America to the borders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This musical poem describes the history and ecology of VEE viruses and the epidemiology of an unprecedented 1969 movement of VEE viruses from South America to equids and humans in Central America from Costa Rica to Guatemala and Belize and in Mexico and the United States that continued until 1972.


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The Crab Hole Mosquito Blues | CDC EID


Suggested Citation for this Article
Johnson KM, Antczak DF, Dietz WH, Martin DH, Walton TE. The Crab Hole Mosquito Blues [another dimension]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 May [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/5/923.htm


DOI: 10.3201/eid1705.101412


Comments to the Authors
Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Thomas E. Walton, 5365 North Scottsdale Rd, Eloy, AZ 85131-3507, USA; email: tewalton@q.com