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A six-year-old boy from Kerala, who died after contracting the West Nile Virus (WNV), could be the first casualty of the disease reported from India, say experts in the Union ministry of health and family welfare.
West Nile Virus
West Nile Virus is a disease which spreads from birds to humans with the bite of an infected Culex mosquito.
The symptoms include cold, fever, body ache, fatigue and nausea, with complications leading to meningitis and death.
West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever.
It is a member of the family Flaviviridae, specifically from the genus Flavivirus, which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus.
West Nile virus is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, mostly species of the genus Culex, but ticks have also been found to carry the virus, although it is exceptional and they are not likely to play a major role in the transmission of WNV.
The primary hosts of WNV are birds, so that the virus remains within a “bird-mosquito-bird” transmission cycle.
