West+Nile

=**West Nile Virus**=


 * Description of virus that causes the disease.**

· Flaviviridae- belongs to the family named after Yellow Fever. · Size: 300×239 (15 KB) · Single stranded RNA virus we


 * Viral Specificity:**

· West Nile virus affects the central nervous system · The virus spreads from mosquitoes to horses and other animals.


 * Symptoms and progression of the disease:**

· Symptoms include: fever, heachache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash and swollen lymph glands · Symptoms may last a few days, although people report having the illness for several weeks.


 * Common Methods of Transmission:**

· Mosquito becomes infected when it feeds on the blood of a bird that carries West Nile virus. · Transmitted to people usually threw mosquito's that are infected with the West Nile.


 * Treatment and Prevention:**

· There is no human vaccine for the West Nile Virus. · There is no specific treatment, people who get West Nile usually recover but takes a long time to fully recover. · Same with animals.


 * Miscellaneous:**

· The West Nile virus was first isolated in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937 · the virus was first recognized as a cause of severe human meningitis or encephalitis · primary hosts for West Nile are horses, cats, dogs, bats, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, seals, and even alligators. · the virus also has infected at least 27 other species of vertebrates. · Horses = affected much more than any other domesticated animal.


 * Resources accessed:**

· http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/symptoms.htm · http://www.virology.net/garryfavweb12.html http://archives.microbeworld.org/news/west_nile/news_west_nile_04.aspx