Two Fordham University professors have been highly involved in combating what is now confirmed to be a West Nile Virus outbreak in the New York City area. Medical entomologist Dr. Richard C. Falco and Vector ecologist Dr. Thomas J. Daniels, both of Fordham’s Louis Calder Center, the University’s biological field station, have played a highly instrumental role in assisting city, state, and federal officials in addressing the present public health crisis.The majority of their responsibilities have focused on mosquito surveillance, which involves collecting and testing specimens from the city and its surrounding areas. “This is a new disease for this area,” said Dr. Falco of the recently identified West Nile-like Virus. “A lot of work is going into finding out how it got here and how far it has spread.”
Fordham’s Louis Calder Center, by permission of its director Dr. John Wehr, has been assisting in mosquito surveillance since the beginning of the crisis on September 7, 1999. The Calder Center ‘s ready, willing, and able manner has received national attention for all the time and expertise it has provided in addressing the recent health crisis.
