- The Kerala government issued an alert against West Nile fever, a mosquito-borne viral infection after one death and eight cases were reported.
- Symptoms of the infection include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, stupor, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis.
- Most of the symptoms are similar to that of Japanese encephalitis.
- However, 80% of the patients do not show any symptoms.
- The disease is spread by the Culex species of mosquitoes.
- As per the World Health Organization (WHO), human infection is most often the result of bites from infected mosquitoes; happens when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days.
- There has been no human-to-human transmission so far.
- The WHO says that the treatment is supportive for patients with neuro-invasive West Nile virus, often involving hospitalisation, intravenous fluids, respiratory support, and prevention of secondary infections.
- No vaccine is available for humans.
Dig Deeper: Read about Japanese Encephalitis.
