Tracking West Nile Virus

摘要

Mosquitoes are known vectors of West Nile virus, which sickened 2,374 people and killed 114 in the U.S. last year, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.West Nile virus primarily is a bird disease; mosquitoes bite infected birds and then bite humans, transmitting the virus, explained Mike McLean, an entomologist at the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District in St. Paul, Minn.Scientists soon may be able to predict when and where West Nile virus outbreaks will occur. A team led by Dr. Michael Wimberly of South Dakota State University is refining a model that uses ecological forecasting to understand how temperature, precipitation and vegetation greenness affect the severity of outbreaks in a given region or season.