· 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.
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
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