Is the West Nile Virus going to develop into an epidemic that will spread quickly throughout the country? Or is it just a small outbreak that can be contained? America isn't waiting to find out -- it wants to know now, and it's looking for information online.

Yes, West Nile moves into the top slot on the Lycos 50 this week, where Dragonball had resided for six of seven weeks since the end of soccer's World Cup. And it's close -- in the three years we've been counting the Lycos 50, we don't know if the top of the list has ever been this close. West Nile Virus gets less than 0.6 percent more searches than #3 KaZaA.

THE KING: While West Nile infects the American populace, the Presley family infects the Lycos 50. First comes paterfamilias Elvis, who rises all the way to #6 on this week's list. Perhaps the hype over the 25th anniversary of his death will put Elvis at #1 next week.

Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley also makes news this week with her secret Hawaiian wedding to actor Nicolas Cage. Combined searches for the two newlyweds put their nuptials at #42 on this week's list.

Lisa Marie, of course, used to be married to Michael Jackson (involuntary shudder). That means the entire Jackson family is now somewhat related to the entire Coppola clan, since Nicolas Cage is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew. For fun, see if you can connect Jason Schwartzman (the kid from Rushmore) to 80's R&B star El DeBarge in six family relationships (answer at end of this column).

Let's not forget about mom, now, either -- searches for Priscilla Presley go up 1600 percent this week.

SPIN OUT: While actor Jason Priestley (#50) is no relation to the Presleys, he also makes the Lycos 50 this week. While engaging in his racecar hobby, the former 90210 star spun out, hit a wall head-on, and fractured his spine and both feet. After surgery, he is expected to make a full recovery.

xXx MARKS THE HOT: Lest it get lost underneath a pile of Presleys and Priestleys, we should note the significant achievement of actor Vin Diesel. By reaching #9 on the Lycos this week, Diesel becomes the highest-ranked actor in the history of our list and the first to ever reach the top ten.

PICKLED GINGER: Normally, we exclude adult film stars from the Lycos 50, but Ginger Lynn (#41) has found a rather unexpected way onto our list. She's been getting 12 times as many searches as normal because she's the subject of a very popular episode of E!'s True Hollywood Story.

The show, which premiered on August 11, tells how Lynn climbed to the top of the porn world and then quit at age 23 to become a "regular" actress, only to find that her porn past followed her wherever she went. She was unable to cross over into conventional films, and fell into a life of drug use and scandal.

E! is proving to be a network that really drives pop culture online. Their reality show star Anna Nicole Smith is still hot despite dropping 18 spots to #23, while E! icon and popular pinup Brooke Burke (#32) has now spent 21 straight weeks on the Lycos 50.

TITLE IX?: Sportscaster Jill Arrington (#48) is getting plenty of queries, but it has nothing to do with her work on CBS. Arrington has a pictorial in the latest issue of FHM that is sparking a debate about where female sportscasters should draw the line between seriousness and sexuality. Shades of February, when racy website photos put FOX Sports' Lisa Guerrero on the Lycos 50.

By the way, the cover of that issue declares Anna Kournikova the sexiest woman alive, which explains why she's moved back up to #7.

SHORT SUBJECTS: Say goodbye to Star Wars after 22 weeks on the Lycos 50... Amazingly, searches for US Airways don't go up at all despite the company declaring bankruptcy... We can't figure out why searches for the IRS (#15) would go up 21 slots this week. If you have any idea, please email us... In the battle for video football supremacy, searches for Madden 2003 trounce searches for NFL 2K3 by more than five to one.

NEW THIS WEEK: PGA Championship, Perseid meteor shower, Ginger Lynn, Cage-Presley wedding, diets, Jill Arrington, Jason Priestley.

DROPOUTS: Star Wars, Napster, Sailor Moon, Spirit Airlines, crop circles, Jennifer Walcott, No Calls Please.

TWO YEARS AGO: Vice-presidential daughter Karenna Gore is the big hit of the Democratic convention, as searches for her go up 1200 percent.

TOMORROW: A new kind of quiz, Famous Names.

QUIZ ANSWER: This has nothing to do with Lycos searches, of course, but Jason Schwartzman's cousin is Nicolas Cage, whose wife is Lisa Marie Presley, whose ex-husband is Michael Jackson, whose sister is Janet Jackson, whose ex-husband is James DeBarge, whose brother is El DeBarge.

For extra credit, connect Friends star Courtney Cox to R&B legend Marvin Gaye in nine family relationships. Answer tomorrow. Yes, you'll need Lisa Marie and Nicolas for this one too.