West Nile fever: symptoms and prevention

The first case of isolation from the human blood of a virusWest Nile fever was recorded in 1937 in Uganda. Further studies have shown that the causative agent of this disease is a representative of a group of flavoviruses. Most often this disease affects residents of the Mediterranean countries (especially Egypt and Israel), India, Indonesia, Corsica. Also, the presence of natural foci of disease in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Omsk and Odessa regions has been proved.

The carriers of the disease are insects, most often mosquitoes and mites. How can you tell if a person has West Nile fever? Symptoms of the disease will largely depend on the form of the disease.

General symptoms

The incubation period of fever in its various formsflows differently. Moreover, about 80% of the infected do not experience any symptoms at all. Some patients report weakness and poor appetite. Almost always a person infected with a virus suffers from diarrhea or vomiting. In other words, his condition is characterized by pronounced general intoxication. There are 3 forms of the course of this disease.

Neuroinfective form

Fever of the Western Nile, the symptoms of which occur in the largest number of patients, is called neuroinfectious. It is characterized by the following manifestations:

• chills;
• weakness;
• vomiting, not associated with meals, several times a day;
• arthralgia;
• toxic encephalopathy (manifested in severe headaches, dizziness, hallucinations, tremor, etc.).

The disease lasts from 7-10 days to several weeks. However, it is noted that even after some time a person can feel weakness, insomnia, depression and even memory impairment.

Flu-like form

How does the flu-like West Nile fever manifest itself? Symptoms of it are similar in many respects to the manifestation of many viral infections:

• chills;
• pain in the eyeballs;
• conjunctivitis;
• cough;
• loose stools;
• enlargement of the liver and spleen;
• meningism.

Exanthematous form

The rarest variety of the disease. This is a West Nile fever, the symptoms of which may also include the appearance of a different type of rash, for example, roseolo- or scarlatina-like. The most characteristic manifestations of this form are:

• catarrhal manifestations;
• fever;
• tenderness of lymph nodes.

West Nile Fever: Diagnosis and Prevention

The manifestations of this disease are similar in many ways tothe symptomatology of other flavoviruses, so routine blood and urine tests are not enough for this. You can identify it by donating blood to PCR or viral antigens. Despite the fact that the course of the disease is benign and differs almost completely in the absence of residual phenomena, it is easier to avoid than treat it.

Prevention of West Nile fever includesa whole series of activities aimed primarily at protecting mosquito bites (wearing long sleeves, using deterrent chemicals) and destroying their potential nesting sites (cleaning ditches and sewage pools).

</ p>>