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Not all birds can be tested - WEST NILE VIRUS: Officials say factors make some dead birds untestable, but they're entered into the database.

Fearing the six dead crows near his Riverside County home might be infected with West Nile virus, Erwin Tescher dutifully called a state hotline to report the birds.

But he was surprised to be told no one would pick up the carcasses.

That's not unusual, public health officials said Tuesday. But it doesn't mean they're falling down on the job, they added.

Health department and vector control officials earlier this month urged people to report dead birds to the state Department of Public Health's West Nile hotline, so they can track the virus that infects birds and is transmitted to mosquitoes and humans.

In July, the health department received 6,553 reports of dead birds and 1,423 birds were tested, a little less than 22 percent, according to state health department statistics.

Many calls are about birds that, for one reason or another, are of no use to the workers who test them for disease   Read Full Article...