Just outside New Orleans, in the suburb of Jefferson, Jeanie Knesel is fretting about her grandon's penchant to attract bugs. [ ]. It's the West Nile virus, carried by mosquitoes and blamed for a frightening cluster of recent deaths and illnesses, that has the 51-year-old grandmother concerned about 5-year-old Brandon, who lives with her (Lok 1).
Those worries that Jeanie Knesel has are not uncommon among people today. The West Nile virus affects the people that the disease infects as well as the family's of these people. The West Nile virus is still farley new to the United States so there is still a lot of things people don't know about this mosquito carrying disease. Without question, the West Nile virus can have a devastating effect on anyone's life.
The West Nile virus is a disease that infects different animals like birds, horses, and dogs. This virus also affects humans by sometimes giving them encephalitis ("What you should know about West Nile Virus" 1). Mosquito bites is how the West Nile virus is carried. These blood sucking creatures continue to carry the virus and broaden the territory more and more each year ("West Nile virus" 1). Not all mosquitoes carry the virus. Only the mosquitoes who are infected with the virus can harm animals and people. The only way the mosquito gets the virus is if the mosquito bites a bird who is carrying the West Nile virus ("West Nile Virus Symptoms, History, and prevention of the West Nile Virus" 1). The West Nile virus can also be spread another way and this is by organ transplants and infected blood transfusions ("Questions and Answers About West Nile Virus" 1). This way of getting the West Nile virus is very unlikely considering the fact that so many test are done on the blood before being transferred from one person to another. The virus usually stays in humans for a period of five to fifteen days ("West Nile Virus Symptoms and Care" 3).