West Nile patients still suffering a year later.More than a year after being diagnosed with a West Nile virus West Nile virus, microorganism and the infection resulting from it, which typically produces no symptoms or a flulike condition. The virus is a flavivirus and is related to a number of viruses that cause encephalitis. infection, half of patients have ongoing health complaints such as fatigue, memory problems, headaches, depression and tremors, a study in the Sept. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases Clinical Infectious Diseases in an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press which publishes articles on the pathogenesis, clinical investigation, medical microbiology, diagnosis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of diseases caused by infectious agents. found. Researchers tested 49 patients approximately 13 months after the patients were diagnosed with West Nile fever West Nile fever West Nile meningoencephalitis Infectious disease An acute, mosquito-borne flaviviral infection endemic–rarely, epidemic–in the Near East, Africa, former Soviet Union, India Clinical After a 3-6 day incubation, children present with a , meningitis or encephalitis encephalitis (ĕnsĕf'əlī`təs), general term used to describe a diffuse inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, usually of viral origin, often transmitted by mosquitoes, in contrast to a bacterial infection of the meninges . The patients were given tests for neurological function, quality of life, fatigue and depression. On a standardized test A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] for overall general health, nearly half of patients scored low on the physical component and a third scored low on the mental component. On the test for depression, 25 percent scored in the range of moderate to severe. Eighty-four percent of patients reported fatigue and 20 percent had tremors. While most people infected with West Nile virus have no symptoms, lead study author Paul Carons, MD, said he hopes his research will "raise awareness that West Nile virus poses a substantial public health threat." |
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