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West Nile virus (WNV)
is an important arthropod borne
flavivirus
; usually causes
a mild infection called West Nile fever (WNF) in human and horses.
This virus, originally isolated from
the West Nile Province of Uganda in 1937, has since been recovered
from many other African countries and from Israel.
This virus is maintained naturally in
wild birds and transmitted by Culex mosquitoes.
Clinical disease in man is a febrile
illness with headache, myalgia, maculopapular rash, lymphadenopathy
and leucopenia.
West Nile virus (WNV)
may develop acute neurologic disease, which can be severe or even
fatal, including WNV meningitis, encephalitis, and an irreversible
acute flaccid paralysis or poliomyelitis-like syndrome.
Encephalitis is usually rare.
West Nile virus also occurs in India . The Tamilnad strain of West Nile virus
was isolated in 1955 from Culex vishnui mosquitoes collected from near
Vellore. But it has not been shown to be clinically important here.
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