The West Nile virus, which was officially declared an \"epidemic\" last year, has been almost entirely overcome. So announced today Environment Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, at a joint press conference with Health Minister Nissim Dehan. The virus is transmitted from infected chickens via mosquitoes - thus the concern about standing water - and there is no known cure. In the wake of last year\'s grave statistics - 452 cases of the virus, leading to 31 deaths - the Environment Ministry received a 17-million shekel budgetary allocation to help educate the public as to how the disease is caused and how to avoid it. This year, only 37 people were infected, leading to two deaths.