12 Nov 2024        14:47:21 pm

Science

West Nile virus

Tags : West Nile virus

Topic: Diseases

Why in the news?

• Ukraine is grappling with a severe outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV), with health officials raising alarms as the death toll rises. Since July, the country has recorded 88 cases, resulting in 11 fatalities, according to health authorities.

Source: Down To Earth

About West Nile virus:

• It is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the family Flaviviridae.
• It was first isolated in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937.
• It is commonly found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and West Asia.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it typically spikes between the summer and autumn months of June and September.
• Transmission: 
  • Human infection is most often the result of bites from infected mosquitoes. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days. 
  • The virus may also be transmitted through contact with other infected animals, their blood, or other tissues.
• Symptoms:
  • Infection with WNV is either asymptomatic (in around 80% of infected people), or can lead to West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease.
  • About 20% of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever and symptoms include fever, headache, and tiredness, and body aches, nausea, vomiting, occasionally with a skin rash.
• So far, 19 countries, including Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Türkiye and Kosovo have reported outbreaks.
• Treatment: 
  • No vaccine is available for WNV and only supportive treatments can be provided to neuroinvasive WNV patients.

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