Oil Refineries and Arbovirus Epidemics

[Under Construction]

Working Theory: Arboviruses are biomarkers (or bio-indicators) of pollution stress. They are not causative, and have not been proved causative in the laboratory because they have not been isolated in the lab process. Heavy, air polluting industry correlates absolutely with all known WNV and SLE epidemics and/or high virus prevalence. As epidemics are investigated, data is provided in the following table. Please notify me regarding any exceptions to this theory.

From my investigation and those who have challenged it, I find It impossible to locate an arbovirus (WNV or SLE) epidemic without it being downwind from a nearby petrochemical refinery. The apparent exceptions to this rule are the light recent epidemics near the region of Florida/Georgia border, however, these epidemics occurred in areas where the heaviest industry in the region exists.

WNV/SLE Virus Epidemics and Oil Refineries "Oil refineries are the largest single source of VOC emissions in the US." - House of Representatives Report 11/10/99
Type	Date	Location	Activity	Epidemic Image	Pollution Image
WNV	2002, July	Winnipeg, MB (Canada	WNV crows central Winnepeg, SE Winnepeg, and  St. Andrews.		St. Boniface Refinery near SE Winnepeg.
WNV	2001	Monroe, in northern Louisiana	WNV epidemic		Downwind (wind flows from SE) from the largest petrochemical industrial region in the Western Hemisphere.  Air polluting industry in the immediate vicinity.
WNV	2001	Windsor, Ontario (Canada)	WNV epidemic		Downwind (prevailing winds flow from the SW) from adjacent petrochemical refinery.  Windsor is the sister city of Detroit, Michigan.
WNV	2001	NYS: Staten Island (near east side of NJ)	Epicenter. First human case for 2001 (as of 8/13/01)	WNV pos avians:	Oil refineries are indicated with re circles, the NJ counties are colored according to year 2001 WNV positive density as of 8/9/01.  Prevailing winds flow generally from N and W. Chevron refinery (Perth Amboy, NJ) is just southwest of Staten Island. Bayway refinery in Linden is north of the epidemic area; Gloucester refinery is to the west. 70% of US Atlantic oil flows through the Delaware Estuary
WNV	2001	NJ East	Camden is very high incidence of WNV crows.	WNV pos avians:	2 petrochemical refineries.  Prevailing winds flow generally from N and W.
WNV	2000	NYS : Staten Island	WNV epicenter
Refinery	""	NJ : Perth Amboy
WNV	1999	NYS : N. Queens	Claimed to be the first WNV epidemic in the Western hemisphere.		2 Take-off Lanes at La Guardia, 5 Expressways, 2 major bridge exits.  Epidemic area is W of this airport.  Prevailing winds flow from N and W, generally, that is, from the airport to the epidemic region which is under the busiest of the take-off lanes.
WNV	2001	NJ : Middlesex County	Highest WNV positives count in the US. (as of 8/9/01)		In the middle of NJ's petrochemical industrial region.
WNV	2001	NJ : Camden/Gloucester Counties (west side by Philadelphia)	Highest WNV positives count in the US. (as of 8/9/01)		Oil refineries are indicated with blue circles, the NJ counties are colored according to year 2001 WNV positive density as of 8/9/01
WNV	2000	NJ : Middlesex County	WNV epicenter
SLE	1959-62	FL : Tampa	SLE epicenter		Adjacent to the highest confluence of uranium ore processing plants in the country, working covertly as 'fertilizer plants'.  These plants exhausted fluorine related chemicals.  This information has only recently surfaced.
SLE	1983	TX : Houston and Baytown	SLE epicenter		Petrochemical industry.
SLE	~1986	TX: Corpus Christi	SLE epicenter		Petrochemical refineries.
SLE	1983	CA : Los Angeles	SLE epicenter		High density of vehicles and petrochemical refineries
WNV	1999	Russia : Volgograd	WNV epicenter		Heavy industry and petrochemical refineries.
WNV	1999	Israel : Haifa	WNV epicenter		Petrochemical refineries.
WNV	1996	Romania : Bucharest	WNV epicenter		Unregulated industry, notorious for air pollution.
SLE	1975	[I predict to find Akron]	"There was an epidemic of SLE in Ohio during 1975, with 416 confirmed cases, 29 fatalities, and over 1100 additional suspect cases." - Ohio State
SLE	19~	NYS: ~ "near Canadian border" [I predict to find near heavy industry near Lakes Ontario or Erie]	SLE epidemic
Refinery	19~	Israel: Negev
SLE	1933	St. Louis, Missouri	The first SLE epidemic.
SLE, Sleeping Sickness	1933	East St. Louis, Illinois	Epidemics concurrent with St. Louis SLE epidemic.		"The Pittsburg of the Midwest."  Large defense plant (Monsanto)