A 22 percent cut in Colorado’s West Nile virus surveillance budget has led to fewer public service announcements and warning posters about the disease – but it shouldn’t affect the tracking of the virus, public health officials said.
“Our surveillance system is designed to warn us early in the season of a mild year, a moderate year, or if we’re in for a big year,” state epidemiologist John Pape said.
“We can still do that,” Pape said, “but less money is going to county health departments, especially for things like public education.”
Last year, Colorado got $800,000 from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pape said. This year, state officials were told to expect only $490,000, but earlier this month, Pape got word Colorado would receive $625,000. That still amounts to a budget cut of about 22 percent.
The state health department funnels some of the money to counties for public education and to monitor for West Nile virus – which can trigger encephalitis, a rare, fatal brain infection.
Larimer County’s West Nile budget was slashed by 60 percent this year, said Adrienne LeBailly, county health department director.
That means an expert health educator isn’t giving talks to community groups this summer, LeBailly said, or working with engineers and entomologists to make sure new storm drains don’t foster mosquito larvae.
County staff are continuing to monitor traps for mosquitoes carrying West Nile, LeBailly said, but can’t cover as much of the county, or as frequently.
The decline in federal funding was not a surprise, Pape said.
When new diseases pop up anywhere in the country – as West Nile did in Colorado in 2002 and hantavirus in 1993 – the CDC typically gives a boost of funding for surveillance and education, he said.
Then, state and county agencies take over.
Still, Colorado received $135,000 more than originally anticipated by state officials.
“We’ll see. With some of this extra money, we might be able to put some of that (education) back into play,” Pape said.
