West Nile Fever: An Overview

West Nile fever is caused by flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae which is composed of single stranded RNA .it is a vector borne disease usually transmitted through culex mosquito which also causes elephantatities in humans.apart from humans the virus can also infect some animals like horse. The name west nile fever is coined so because it was first found in west nile district of Uganda.viral meningo encephalitis was the manifestation of the infection which attracted scientists for doing research on west nile virus.the world wide spread of virus was possibaly through migration of infected birds or bu illegaly transportaed birds. Presence of IgM and IgG antibodies confirms the presence of virus in blood.use of antivirals like ribavirin,interferons and immunoglobulins can control the infections, however mosquito control is the best method to keep west nile fever at bay.vaccine till today is available only for horses and can not be used by humans.