Climate can affect the geographic and seasonal patterns of vector-borne disease incidence such as West Nile Virus (WNV) infections. We explore the association between climatic factors and the occurrence of West Nile fever (WNF) or West Nile neuro-invasive disease (WNND) in humans in Northern Greece over the years 2010-2014. Time series over a period of 30 years (1979-2008) of climatic data of a...

West Nile virus (WNV) is a leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States. Annual seasonal outbreaks vary in size and location. Predicting where and when higher than normal WNV transmission will occur can help direct limited public health resources. We developed models for the contiguous United States to identify meteorological anomalies associated with above average incidence of ...

West Nile virus (WNV) is now endemic in the continental United States; however, our ability to predict spillover transmission risk and human WNV cases remains limited. Here we develop a model depicting WNV transmission dynamics, which we optimize using a data assimilation method and two observed data streams, mosquito infection rates and reported human WNV cases. The coupled model-inference fra...

West Nile virus (WNV) is transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause illness in humans ranging from mild fever to encephalitis. In 2002, a total of 4,156 WNV cases were reported in the United States; 329 were in Louisiana. To estimate the economic impact of the 2002 WNV epidemic in Louisiana, we collected data from hospitals, a patient questionnaire, and public offices. Hospital charges were conver...

Objective The West Coast Groundfish Observer Program (WCGOP) collects at-sea data from limited trawl and fixed gear fleet as well as from open access nearshore, prawn, and shrimp fleets. This information is vital for determining the amount of discard and total catch of groundfish species in this region. This report summarizes discard data collected by the West Coast Groundfish Observer Program ...

Increased connectivity with the mainland has led to the arrival of many invasive species to the Galápagos Islands, including novel pathogens, threatening the archipelago's unique fauna. Here we consider the potential role of the mosquito Aedes taeniorhynchus in maintaining the flavivirus West Nile virus [WNV] should it reach the islands. We report on three components of vectorial capacity - vec...

In July-September 2012, one month earlier than in previous years, 13 confirmed human cases of West Nile virus infection were diagnosed in northern Italy, including five with neuroinvasive disease, three with West Nile fever, and five West Nile virus (WNV)-positive blood donors. In nine cases, the presence of the WNV lineage 1a Livenza strain, characterised in 2011, was ascertained. Symptomatic ...

We report the generation of West Nile virus (WNV) infectious clones for the pathogenic lineage 1 Texas-HC2002 and nonpathogenic lineage 2 Madagascar-AnMg798 strains. The infectious clones exhibited biological properties similar to those of the parental virus isolates. We generated chimeric viruses and found that viral factors within the structural and nonstructural regions of WNV-TX contribute ...