West Nile Virus (WNV)
First West Nile Virus case in sage grouse in Oregon - 8/24/06
West Nile Virus has spread rapidly across North America, affecting thousands of birds, horses, and humans,
since it was discovered in the Western hemisphere. WNV swept from the New York
City region in 1999 to almost all of the continental U.S., 7 Canadian provinces, and throughout
Mexico and parts of the Caribbean by 2004.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is committed to understanding the effects
of WNV and answering the remaining questions surrounding the disease.
USGS scientists are collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and other agencies to learn more about the ecology of WNV.
These collaborations have produced remarkable results in the six short years
since its arrival in New York City, but the ways WNV is affecting wildlife
populations, particularly wild birds, is not clearly understood. The NWHC is
working on three new ambitious research studies to investigate WNV in wild birds.
Read more about
USGS contributions to public health.
Read more about the
National Wildlife Health Center's West Nile Virus research projects.
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What is West Nile Virus?
West Nile is an insect-borne flavivirus commonly found in Africa, western Asia
and the Middle East, and never reported in the Western Hemisphere before 1999. It has
been detected in at least 48 species of mosquitoes, over 250 species of birds, and at
least 18 mammalian species, including humans. A good way to help prevent WNV infection
in humans is to avoid mosquito bites - check the CDC guidelines at the
CDC West Nile Virus page
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Other WNV resources:
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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
