West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded flavivirus mostly present in the eastern hemisphere that can affect humans, birds, horses, mosquitoes, and other domestic and wild animals. It has plagued the world since it was first identified in West Nile province of Uganda in 1937 (Sally Murray). Since this time, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), the disease has been spotted in “Africa … Europe, the Middle East, West and Central Asia … the United States … Canada,” and now Central America. Despite its discovery in the 1930’s, the western hemisphere went without the disease until 1999; the first documented case of WNV in the United States was in New York (Watson). West Nile Virus presents a near never-ending problem for the United States because of its similarities to other arboviral disease and its ability to transmit quickly.
Now that it has been fourteen years since the virus was identified in New York, according to the CDC’s report “West Nile Virus Disease And Other Arboviral Diseases-United States, 2011,” WNV has become the leading cause of domestically acquired arboviral diseases in the United States, an arboviral disease, which can also be called an arthropodborne disease, is a disease that is transmitted by an arthropod vector. The main vector of West Nile virus is the mosquito, other arthropods such as the tick and fleas may also carry the disease but this is less likely. There is not one specific species of mosquitoes that is capable of being the host of the disease, almost all species of mosquitoes can be the host of the disease. Since mosquito populations are more prevalent in hot and moist climates, it is then safe to assume the both temperature and rainfall an effec...
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... Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, First Session, to Conduct Oversight of the State and Federal Response to the 1999 Outbreak of the West Nile Virus in Connecticut and New York, December 14, 1999, Fairfield Ct. Washington: U.S. G.P.O, 2000. Print.
"West Nile Virus Activity -- United States, 2006." MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 56.22 (2007): 556-559. CINAHL. Web. 4 Dec. 2013
"West Nile Virus Activity -- United States, 2009." MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 59.25 (2010): 769-772. CINAHL. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
"West Nile Virus Disease And Other Arboviral Diseases-United States, 2011." American Journal Of Transplantation 12.10 (2012): 2849-2854. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
"West Nile Virus and Other Arboviral Diseases-United States, 2012." Mmwr. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 62.25 (2013): 513-7. Print.
"Facts About VX." CDC. N.p., 9 May 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Retrieved from http://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/vx/basics/facts.asp
... States are minimal for people affected with disease by this invasive species, steps should still be taken to avoid an outbreak. They should be controlled to some extent. Because West Nile has taken such a toll on humans and birds, precautions should be taken to avoid being infected with this disease. Controlling the Asian Tiger Mosquito may help minimize the spread of diseases throughout the United States. Because this species of mosquito thrives in more wet condensed spaces like water cans, tipping and tossing all containers that hold water around the house or garden on a daily basis will help remove the larvae and reduce the population. Other common practices that most communities partake in, include cold fogging or spray trucks and effective mosquito traps. These are the best options so far, to help control the Asian Tiger mosquito and other mosquitos as well.
"Plague." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 June 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Chester M. Southam, MD, was an American virologist who worked on curing cancer. “Studies had shown that a pathogen called the Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus could eradicate tumors in mice. Because that virus was considered too dangerous for people, Southam searched for something milder, settling on the newly discovered West Nile virus.” He had already spent some time in Africa injecting an assortment of viruses including mumps, dengue, West Nile, and Semliki Forest virus in severely ill cancer patients. The West Nile Virus usually
The Web. 21 Nov. 2010. “Dog Bite: Fact Sheet.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, 1 Apr. 2008.
Changes in the way cases of valley fever are being detected and reported to public health officials, or
Mosquitoes, fever and even death may be some of the things that come to mind when we're asked to think about West Nile Virus. Many of us would consider mosquitoes a small trade-off for what the summertime provides, but what if there were more at risk than a bump above your skin and an itch? In a not so distant past West Nile Virus ascended into news broadcasts all throughout the country and alarming it's residents. Today however, that all seems to be an afterthought. The intentions today are to cover the first found cases of West Nile Virus, the symptoms of West Nile Virus, and finally West Nile Virus' impact on the United States. Through the research here, the hope is that we can all have a better understanding of how West Nile Virus works.
The West Nile Virus first came to the U.S. public's attention following an outbreak in New York in August 1999 where eight patients has contracted ecephalitis from the virus. In the following four years the virus spread to almost all 48 contiguous states. In the United States cases were initially infrequent until 2002, when a massive outbreak occurred in the Mississippi River basin during August and September. As it has spread through the country, nearly 8,500 people have been diagnosed with the virus, which has lead to 189 deaths. The emergence of the new disease has been followed closely by the media and the government. Many areas that have experienced significant outbreaks of the Virus have occured have implem...
Could you imagine being stricken by a deadly virus, that if you survived, you would not be able to walk without any assistance? In 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal struggle with infantile paralysis led him to create the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) which would help find a treatment for infantile paralysis, which is better known as polio. This virus was usually contracted during childhood, and attacked the central nervous system, which if the victim did survive, he or she would then usually suffer from debilitating paralysis well into their lives. Major polio epidemics had been very prevalent in many parts of the United States since the late nineteenth century, but the poliomyelitis virus has since been mostly eradicated in the United States. Although, polio has been mostly eradicated in the United States, this virus is still very prevalent in developing countries throughout the world. This foundation has since been given the name March of Dimes, which was coined early in the foundation’s history. Although, March of Dimes now focuses on the prevention of premature births, birth defects, and infant mortality, when it first was created, its original mission was to raise funds for a poliomyelitis vaccine and, once the vaccine was created, to prevent the negative effects of the vaccine.
The Ebola virus was discovered in 1976. It has four strains, each from a different geographic area, but all give their victims the same painful, often lethal symptoms.
Marburg virus belongs to the genus Marburgvirus in the family Filoviridae, and causes a grave hemorrhagic fever, known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF), in twain humans and nonhuman primates. Basic Safety measures for medical personnel and others who are taking care of presumed individuals who may be contaminated with Marburg disease. Marburg Virus, Akin to the more widely known Ebola hemorrhagic fever, MHF is portrayed by systemic viral replication, lowering the body’s normal immune response to invasion by foreign substances and abnormal inflammatory responses. Ebola and Marburg Virus are very similar in many ways Marburg virus was introduced first in the 1960’s. These pathological features of the disease subsidize to a numerous of systemic dysfunctions including
...nter for Disease Control. (2010, June 4). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Retrieved July 30, 2011, from www.cdc.gov: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf
Dengue fever, also known as the “breakbone fever”, is a vector-borne viral disease endemic in tropic and subtropic regions, with around 100 million symptomatic new cases each year worldwide15. It is caused by any one of the four closely-related serotypes or viruses that is spread by multiple species of mosquitoes, in particular the Aedes aegypti 6,13.
Dengue is the most common arboviral (arthropod-transmitted) disease and it also position as the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Approximately 2.5 billion people living in tropical and sub-tropical regions are at a great risk of dengue infection, which is almost equal to about two-fifths of the human population (Gubler & Clark, 1995; WHO, 2009). There is an estimated 50-100 million infections occurring globally in each year, with 500,000 cases requiring hospitalization and causing 24,000 deaths (Halstead, 1988; WHO, 1997). Furthermore, the increasing populations in tropical and sub-tropical regions, making dengue as a global threat to public health (UNEP 2009; Holden, 2009).
The Web. 20 Nov. 2013. "Motor Vehicle–Related Deaths — United States, 2003–2007. " Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Jan. 2011.