West Nile virus
hideWest Nile virus (or WNV) is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis (JE) antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, and domestic rabbits. The main route of human infection is through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Image reconstructions and cryoelectron microscopy reveal a 45–50 nm virion covered with a relatively smooth protein surface. This structure is similar to the dengue fever virus; both belong to the genus Flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae. The genetic material of WNV is a positive-sense, single strand of RNA, which is between 11,000 and 12,000 nucleotides long; these genes encode seven non-structural proteins and three structural proteins. The RNA strand is held within a nucleocapsid formed from 12 kDa protein blocks; the capsid is contained within a host-derived membrane altered by two viral glycoproteins.
For more information about West Nile virus, read the full article at
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News tagged with west nile virus
Immune cells predict outcome of West Nile virus infection
Oct 12, 2009 |
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Infection with West Nile virus (WNV) causes no symptoms in most people. However, it can cause fever, meningitis, and/or encephalitis. What determines the outcome of infection with WNV in different people has not been determined. ...
Microbiologists find defense molecule that senses respiratory viruses
Aug 23, 2009 |
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A cellular molecule that not only can sense two common respiratory viruses but also can direct cells to mount a defense has been identified by microbiologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center ...
West Nile virus researchers focus on neighborhood birds
Aug 13, 2009 |
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On a warm, breezy day in Oak Lawn, Ill., veterinary graduate student Jessica Girard of the University of Wisconsin-Madison removed a robin from a finely threaded net hidden in the shadows of a tree-lined meadow.
Do Chicago’s suburbs hold the key to understanding West Nile virus?
Jul 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When Tony Goldberg is not whacking through the brush of central Africa, one of the world's great cauldrons of emerging human and animal disease, he is scouring another disease hot spot: the ...
Climate change amplifying animal disease
May 25, 2009 |
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Climate change is widening viral disease among farm animals, expanding the spread of some microbes that are also a known risk to humans, the world's top agency for animal health said on Monday.
Device targets mosquitoes with deadly nectar
May 06, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The ProVector Bt may not look too much like a real flower, but the artificial device sports bright, finely tuned colors and sweet nectar that can lure and kill mosquitoes that potentially carry diseases.
Field stations foster serendipitous discoveries in environmental, biological sciences
Apr 08, 2009 |
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North America's biological field stations have long been home to a rich legacy of research results, scientists say, making them important places for serendipitous discoveries in the biological and environmental ...
West Nile virus studies show how star-shaped brain cells cope with infection
Mar 31, 2009 |
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A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord. In the report, scient ...
New wheat disease could spread faster than expected
Mar 25, 2009 |
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Both plant and human diseases that can travel with the wind have the potential to spread far more rapidly than has been understood, according to a new study, in findings that pose serious concerns not only for some human ...
Molecules help the immune system to detect cells infected with West Nile virus
Feb 05, 2009 |
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New research reveals a model of host-pathogen interaction that explains how the immune system finds and destroys cells infected with a potentially lethal brain virus. The study, published online on February 5th in Immunity, a Cell ...
