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Article Excerpt
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that West Nile virus infection in humans or animals has occurred in most states, and mosquito bite is now known to be just 1 of several means of virus transmission. Since many infected persons are asymptomatic, the challenge of controlling the spread is made even more difficult. At the time this issue went to press, August 19, a total of 599 human cases and 11 deaths had been reported to the CDC by state and local health authorities. Last year, a total of 638 cases and 31 deaths had been reported by August 30, and for the entire year, 4156 lab-positive human cases and 284 deaths.
This article describes transmission, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of West Nile virus infection.
* HOW THE VIRUS SPREADS
The virus, an RNA virus from the Flaviviridae family, is maintained in a bird-mosquito-bird cycle that begins in the spring when mosquitoes emerge and ends in early fall when they become dormant. By mid to late summer, the virus population has sufficiently amplified in both these hosts. At this point, other mosquitoes act as "bridge vectors" that bite both humans and birds, thus initiating West Nile virus infection in humans.
Avian mortality is...
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