Category Archives: West Nile Virus

Migratory Birds as Spreaders of Emerging Diseases: Fact and Fiction

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Storks on migration over Haifa, Israel. Some of these carried a particularly virulent form of West Nile Virus from Europe in 1998. David King

Storks on migration over Haifa, Israel. Several individuals of this species were found in this area carrying a particularly virulent form of West Nile Virus from Europe in 1998.        David King

Migratory birds move hundreds to thousands of kilometers twice a year, often spanning continents. As they share certain diseases with people, it is not surprising that birds are frequently blamed for transporting these diseases around the world. But while birds are undoubtedly implicated in the geographic expansion of some emerging diseases, the more interesting question is why it doesn’t happen more often, given the hundreds of millions of birds on the move.

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The Vaccine That Almost Wasn’t: Yellow Fever

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Construction of the Panama Canal spurred spurred research to develop a yellow fever vaccine Library of Congress

Construction of the Panama Canal spurred research to develop a yellow fever vaccine         Library of Congress

With yellow fever vaccine in short supply in the face of an ongoing outbreak in Angola, we might be reminded of the fortuitous, and by no means inevitable, circumstances that led to the development of the yellow fever vaccine in the first place. Vaccines for mosquito-borne diseases are hard to come by, and no less so for the flaviviruses that include yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Zika viruses. A serendipitous event in a yellow fever virus isolated from a single person 90 years ago has given rise to all yellow fever vaccines in use today, though at a heavy cost to many of those who played a role in its discovery.

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Zika Virus and What We Can Learn from Related Viruses

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Lake Victoria from Entebbe, Uganda, near the forest for which the Zika virus is named Charles Hoots

Lake Victoria from Entebbe, Uganda, near the forest for which the Zika virus is named.   Charles Hoots

With concern of a possible connection between Zika virus and microcephaly in Brazilian babies, researchers are racing to fill in the many blanks about the virus in order to better control it. But predicting the future of Zika virus in the Americas is fraught with difficulties. The behavior of closely related, recently introduced viruses offers clues. But despite similarities, the differences are many and prevent sweeping generalities. Though not reassuring to couples contemplating starting a family right now, it is this uncertainty that makes these viruses so fascinating.

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