August 8, 2000

Scientists believe that West Nile virus is now established in New York area and will lead to cases of severe brain inflammation and some deaths in years to come, but that it will not pose a major threat to public health; say that although virus was first identified in Uganda, the source of outbreak in US was probably Israel; say surveillance and spraying can help cut the risk that people will be infected; are only now getting clues to orgin and distiny of virus and why it is decimating some species, like crows, while leaving others, like pigeons, untouched; drawings; photos (M)

Reform Party Leaders Split A Reform Party faction opposed to Patrick J. Buchanan's candidacy stormed out of a meeting and may form a new party. PAGE A19

Retired jockey Julie Krone is first woman inducted into National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame; trainer Neil Drysdale is also inducted, along with horses Needles, A P Indy and Winning Colors; photo (M)

West Nile virus appears to be settling in for the long haul in North America. Since last fall, scientists have been scrambling to understand the virus's origin and destiny as it spreads, decimating some new hosts, like crows, leaving others, like pigeons, untouched, and occasionally spilling over into people. Thousands of hours of sleuthing, testing and analysis are only now offering preliminary clues. Many scientists expect that a scattering of human infections and a few deaths will become the norm. But they say the disease appears unlikely to become a significant threat to public health. Science Times, Page F1.

Verizon Communications is willing to suffer a strike by Communications Workers of America because it appears to believe that unions put it at some disadvantage in today's telecommunications market, and that view is shared by competitors and at least some investors and analysts; preponderance of communications companies that have had the best financial performance over the last decade, like WorldCom, have not had the significant union presence of many of the industry's laggards, like AT&T and Nynex, which is now part of Verizon; graph of unionized workers in companies derived from the old American Telephone & Telegraph Co (M)