Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Pathology, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555-0609, USA.
Antiviral Res. 2013 Jul;99(1):1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2013.04.015. Epub 2013 Apr 26.
The resurgence in cases of neurologic disease caused by West Nile virus (WNV) in the United States in 2012 came as a surprise to the general public and to many non-arbovirus researchers. Following the introduction of WNV into the US in 1999, the number of human infections rose dramatically, peaking in 2002-03. However, cases declined from 2008-11, and it was unclear if the virus would continue to have a low-level endemic transmission pattern with occasional outbreaks, like the related flavivirus, Saint Louis encephalitis virus, or a more active pattern with annual outbreaks, including occasional years with large epidemics, like Japanese encephalitis virus. The large epidemic in 2012 suggests that the United States can expect periodic outbreaks of West Nile fever and neurologic disease in the coming years. In this paper, we consider the causes of the upsurge in WNV infections during the past year and their implications for future research and disease control measures.
2012 年，美国西尼罗河病毒（WNV）引起的神经疾病病例再次出现，这让公众和许多非虫媒病毒研究人员感到意外。WNV 于 1999 年引入美国后，人类感染的数量急剧上升，在 2002-03 年达到峰值。然而，自 2008-11 年以来，病例数量有所下降，尚不清楚该病毒是否会继续保持低水平的地方性传播模式，偶尔出现暴发，如相关的黄病毒、圣路易斯脑炎病毒，或者是更活跃的模式，每年都会暴发，包括偶尔会出现大规模流行的年份，如日本脑炎病毒。2012 年的大流行表明，美国未来几年可能会周期性地出现西尼罗河热和神经疾病的暴发。在本文中，我们考虑了过去一年 WNV 感染增加的原因及其对未来研究和疾病控制措施的影响。
