GIGO: words unreadable aloud

West Nile Virus -- Symptoms

Story after story hits the national media — West Nile Virus spreading across the entire eastern half of the country. Being on the west coast, I haven't been paying too much attention to it until this last few weeks' news about a dozen deaths in the Southeast. So I start listening to and watching the news reports: none of them mention even the slightest hint as to what the symptoms might be.

So I searched around and found this Canadian site that lists some symptoms. Among the things you might not have known:

"Sentinel chickens are no longer used in Canada."
The Canadian word for "rain gutters" is apparently "eavestroughs".
Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, headache, body aches, sometimes skin rash and swollen lymph glands. Severe infection is marked by headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, with coma, tremors, convulsions, paralysis and occasionally death.

So ... if you start getting occasional death, you should seek medical attention forthwith.

Added later: That night, David Letterman read a list of symptoms on his show. I tuned in in the middle, so i don't know whether he mentioned the sentinel chickens. His favorite symptom appeared to be "stupor".
10:02:44 PM comment/