A transmission electron micrograph of West Nile virus particles (orange/gold) replicating within the cytoplasm of an infected cell (blue). Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (Photo by NIAID, National Institute of Health via Flickr | CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Once again Montana is in the news for confirmed cases of West Nile Virus scattered across the state. While no one seems to making the connection, one might credibly wonder how the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ approval of a new private pond every working day of the year plays into the proliferation of this disease. And once again, no one is talking about that.

West Nile Virus is carried by Culex mosquitoes and infects both humans and livestock. The virus has now been found in Lewis

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