West Nile Virus Research Paper

Wildlife diseases have been an increasing problem in ecology with many modes of transmission that are continually being studied. Both emerging and re-emerging wildlife diseases are increasing at an alarming rate, with consequences for ecosystem health and biodiversity (Plowright). The two different types of disease transfer are horizontal and vertical, in which horizontal transmission passes on a disease or virus from individual to individual, whereas vertical transmission passes on a disease from parent to offspring. The ability of any infectious disease to invade a population or transfer to new areas is one of the most important concerns regarding wildlife ecology (van den Driessche).

The West Nile Virus is a disease which is transmitted to birds from infected mosquitos. The birds are used as reservoir hosts that can pass on the disease to other birds and to humans, as well as other mammals (Lim). It is a single-stranded RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae, and the genus Flavivirus and it is responsible for the deaths of many birds and humans in both the United States and the Eastern Hemisphere (Peterson). The West Nile virus was originally found in the West Nile District of Uganda and only found in the Eastern Hemisphere, until the year 1999 when the disease appeared in New York (Peterson). Most of the West Nile epidemics

It has been found that higher temperatures cause an increase in viral load in mosquitos and cause the incubation period to shorten. This makes the disease more prevalent in mosquitos and easier to transmit to other animals. Studies have also found that human West Nile Virus infection rates in the United States have increased with warmer temperature, elevated humidity, and heavy precipitation (Soverow). This is information that could possibly play into the study of increased bird transmissions due to higher temperatures,