What is West Nile Virus?
Indian Express August 03, 2018 Commonly found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and West Asia, the West Nile Virus (WNV) is a viral infection which is typically spread by mosquitoes and can cause neurological disease as well as death in people. First detected in a woman in West Nile district of Uganda in 1937, the virus was later identified in birds (crows and columbiformes) in Nile delta region in 1953. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the virus is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae. The largest outbreaks of the virus were recorded in Greece, Israel, Romania, Russia and USA. How does the virus spread or get transmitted? The disease is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days. The virus gets transmitted into the mosquito’s salivary glan