West Nile virus focus of CSU lab research

Health scares over West Nile virus and other vector-borne diseases is bringing research-grant money into Northern Colorado, with about $5 million coming in annually to researchers at Colorado State University’s Anthropod-Borne Infectious Disease Laboratory.

Simply defined, a “vector” is an animal or insect that carries microorganisms from one animal to another. In Colorado, vectors are usually ticks or mosquitoes but can also include rodents, such as mice and prairie dogs.

West Nile virus first appeared in Northern Colorado in the summer of 2002 in horses in Weld County. Ken Olson, a virologist and director of the Arthropod-Borne Infectious Disease Laboratory at Colorado…