Comparative West Nile virus detection in organs of naturally infected American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos).

The 1999 outbreak of West Nile (WN) virus in the New York City area (1) was associated with the deaths of thousands of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), which appeared to be highly susceptible to the virus. Local health authorities selected some of these dead birds for laboratory testing. Generally, brain tissue was targeted for virus isolation as a method of surveillance (2). Although WN virus has frequently been isolated from brain tissue, a rigorous comparison of the brain to other organs of the American Crow has not been undertaken. Accordingly, we compared the sensitivity of the brain with that of other crow organs as targets for WN virus detection by both virus isolation and RNA detection.