West Nile Virus Cause Symptoms And Treatment
West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne disease. It’s commonly spread to individuals by the bite of an infected mosquito. West Nile Virus will cause neurological disorder and therefore, the death of individuals. West Nile virus (WNV) its cycle in nature involving transmission between birds and mosquitoes, and Humans, horses, and other mammals also infected.
West Nile Virus (WNV) is a member of the flavivirus (animal virus) genus and belongs to the family Flaviviridae. Which a{“type”:”block”,”srcIndex”:0,”srcClientId”:”28db6ea2-e0c9-4944-ab28-81710de422c8″,”srcRootClientId”:””}lso include the virus responsible for Japanese encephalitis.
West Nile Virus (WNV) was 1st isolated in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937. Before 1997 WNV wasn’t considered pathogenic for birds, but at that point in Israel, a lot of virulent strain caused the death of various bird species presenting signs of encephalitis and paralysis. WNV is commonly found in Africa, Europe, the centre of East, North America, and West Asia.
Most people infected with WNV don’t feel sick. Among the people who are affected by WNV, only ten per cent of people show fever and other symptoms. And only 1 per cent of people are demonstrated severe unwellness.
Cause of West Nile Virus(WNV)
Most humans are mainly affected by mosquito bite. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite infected birds, and the birds are infected by eating dead animals. When a mosquito bites an infected bird, the virus enters into the mosquito’s salivary glands.
When an infected mosquito bites, the infection or virus may be injected into humans and animals body, where the virus can multiply and cause illness. The virus also transmitted through contact with other infected animals, their blood, or different tissues.
The mosquito that spreads West Nile Virus is Culex pipiens, Culex tarsalis, and Culex quinquefasciatu. These mosquitos are active during the night and infection mainly seen at the time of summer.
WNV enters the blood and reproduces, and sometimes it will cross the blood-brain barrier to cause inflammation within the brain. Transmission is also possible through Organ transplants, Blood transfusions, Pregnancy, Breast-feeding.
Sign and Symptoms of West Nile Virus
According to the World Health Organisation, 80 per cent of people who are infected by the WNV is either asymptomatic (no symptoms) or can show West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease. Only about 20% of people who are infected by WNV will show West Nile fever.
West Nile fever
The West Nile Fever symptoms include headache, tiredness, fever, and body aches, nausea, vomiting, swollen lymph glands, and occasionally with a skin rash on the trunk of the body.
Severe West Nile disease or neuroinvasive disease
The Severe West Nile disease is also a neuroinvasive disease which includes Encephalitis(Inflammation of the brain), Acute flaccid paralysis(Sudden weakness in the arms, legs and breathing muscles), and Myelitis, Meningitis(Inflammation of tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord), or West Nile poliomyelitis(Inflammation of the spinal cord).
The Severe West Nile disease or neuroinvasive disease symptoms include body pain, confusion, and disorientation, muscle jerking, high fever, convulsions, stiff neck, severe headache, sudden weakness, poor coordination, and partial paralysis, coma, etc.
Treatment for West Nile Virus
No vaccine or specific antiviral medicines are available for West Nile virus infection.
To reduce fever and relieve some symptoms can be used pain relief.
In severe cases, patients often need to be hospitalized to receive supportive treatment, like pain medication, intravenous fluids, and nursing care. If you think that you or a family member might have West Nile virus disease, speak with your health care provider.
Prevention of West Nile Virus
Protection against mosquito bites throughout the day and early evening may be a key measure to prevent WNV.
Both affected and unaffected person wears personal protection measures like wearing clothing that covers the maximum amount of the body,
using physical barriers like window screens and closed doors and windows and applying repellent to skin or clothing that contains DEET, IR3535, or icaridin according to the product label instructions.
Young kids and pregnant women should sleep under mosquito nets if sleeping throughout the day or early evening. Travellers and people living in affected areas should take similar necessary precautions described above to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
It is necessary to eliminate these mosquito breeding sites, including covering water storage containers, removing standing water in flower pots, and cleanup up trash and used tires.
West Nile Virus in the USA
In the U.S., WNV is a notifiable disease. In 1999, the West Nile Virus was imported to the U.S., triggering a “large and dramatic irruption,” in step with the World Health Organization.
Since then, nearly 44,000 cases are reported, over 20,000 individuals are infected by WNV and developed the neuroinvasive disease, and over 1900 people have died.
In 1999, a total of sixty-two cases were reported, as well as seven fatalities, a death rate of eleven per cent. By 2015, there have been two,175 cases and 146 deaths, or a mortality rate of 7 per cent.
The highest range of cases was in 2003, at 9,862, and therefore the highest death rate was in 2001, at 15 per cent.
From 2016 to January 17, 2017, about 2,038 individuals were reported to have had WNV. Fifty-six per cent of those developed neuroinvasive diseases, like meningitis.