West Nile Virus Found in Florida Alligators

MIAMI (Reuters) - Epidemiologists found the West Nile virus in three farm-raised Florida alligators, marking the first time the potentially deadly virus has been found in a US reptile species, health officials said on Wednesday.

They also said there was little chance of contracting West Nile disease by eating the meat of an infected alligator because cooking destroys the heat-sensitive virus.

But state officials were still trying to gauge the potential impact on Florida's 21 commercial alligator farms, which produced 25,200 hides and 190,600 pounds (85,770 kg) of meat in 2001.

Researchers from the University of Florida confirmed the virus was present in three alligators sent from a commercial farm in central Florida's Orange County, said Lisa Conti, the state's public health veterinarian. The tests were conducted after an unusual spate of deaths at the farm.

"We would encourage alligator farmers that have animals that may act like they have neurologic signs to have them tested for West Nile," Conti said. "We don't know to what extent this would cause large outbreaks of illness or death in these animals."

Most people who acquire the mosquito-borne virus have no symptoms and those who do usually suffer little more than flu-like illness. But an outbreak this year has killed 211 people in the United States, where 3,587 cases have been confirmed, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus previously has been found in birds, horses and squirrels, but the central Florida case marks the first time it was found in alligators in the United States, state and federal health officials said.

"We have a lot to learn about the natural history of West Nile in alligators at this point," Conti said.

Epidemiologists surmise that the tough-skinned reptiles got the virus the same way humans and other animals do--from the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Asked if humans could contract the virus from the bite of an infected alligator, Conti said, "I think they'd probably be much worse off from the general trauma."