© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, and phenomena from the static and current parts of the UPSC-CSE.
Word: West Nile Virus
Subject: Science (health)
Why is West Nile Virus in news?
– Kerala health department is on alert after the death of a 47-year-old from Thrissur due to the West Nile Virus.
– Earlier in 2019, a six-year-old boy in Malappuram district had died of the same infection.
-The virus was first reported in the Alappuzha district of the state in 2006 and then in Ernakulam in 2011.
What is the West Nile Virus?
– The West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded RNA virus.
– According to the WHO, it is “a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese Encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae”.
– It is a flavivirus related to the viruses that cause St. Louis encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis, and yellow fever.
How does the West Nile Virus (WNV) spread?
– Culex species of mosquitoes act as the principal vectors for transmission. It is transmitted by infected mosquitoes between and among humans and animals, including birds, which are the reservoir host of the virus.
– According to WHO Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days. The virus eventually gets into the mosquito’s salivary glands. During later blood meals (when mosquitoes bite), the virus may be injected into humans and animals, where it can multiply and possibly cause illness.
– WNV can also spread through blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
How can WNV not spread?
– It is not known to spread by contact with infected humans or animals.
-According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it does not spread “through eating infected animals, including birds. Always follow instructions for fully cooking meat”.
What is the incubation period of WNV?
– The incubation period for WNV disease is typically 2 to 6 days, but can range from 2 to 14 days, and can be several weeks in immunocompromised people.
What are the symptoms of WNV?
– The disease is asymptomatic in 80% of the infected people. The rest develop what is called the West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease.
– In these 20% cases, the symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, nausea, rash, and swollen glands.
How dangerous can be WNV?
– Severe infection can lead to neuro-invasive diseases such as West Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis or acute flaccid paralysis.
-WNV-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome and radiculopathy have also been reported.
– It usually turns fatal in persons with co-morbidities and immuno-compromised persons (such as transplant patients).
Points to ponder: What is the treatment for West Nile Virus? Where do we find the cases in India?
