You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.

This story originally ran in the July 2, 2003, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.

The story has been updated for current basic AP style, but the wording in the story has not changed. Any ideas, perspectives or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Sidelines.

With wide-spread attention being given to the West Nile virus, this localized disease has become a nationwide concern.

West Nile is one of five mosquito-borne viruses that can infect people in the United States.

First discovered in a woman from the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937, the disease has since spread across areas of African, Eastern Europe, West Asia, the Middle East and, most recently, the United States.

The vast majority of people who become infected with West Nile have no symptoms or experience only a mild flu-like illness that includes fever, headache and body aches.

The symptoms and illness, which generally occur between three and six days after exposure, last only a few days. Some people may also have mild rash of swollen lymph glands.

“At least 90 percent of those who get infected have no symptoms at all,” MTSU biology professor Dr. Stephen Wright said.

“Many symptomatic cases occur in the elderly, in large part due to their less vigorous immune response. Others at risk are the very young and those whose immune systems are compromised by chemotherapy or AIDS,” Wright said.

Less than one percent of those infected develop meningitis or encephalitis, the most severe forms of the disease. Those who develop the more serious aspects of the illness exhibit an extremely high fever, a flu-like syndrome (several days of extreme aches and pains in muscles and legs), severe headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, tremors, convulsions, paralysis and coma.

In rare instances, death occurs.

“By that time, they start to lose some of their mental facilities. They might be very sleepy, and can’t arrow themselves. In other words, almost comatose, or not able to perform normal function … Then, that’s when there is a chance of dealing with encephalitis, or an infection entered in the brain. To that point, they definitely need to be hospitalized,” Dr. Swinger, a medical epidemiologist in the chemical disease section of Tennessee’s Department of Health, said.

The disease is spread by birds – though not all species – who are infected by mosquitos and serve as the natural host and reservoir for West Nile virus. Although the virus usually doesn’t make birds ill, many can carry it in their blood for three or four days, allowing more mosquitos to feed on them and become infected.

“In Middle Tennessee, crows and blue jays are ‘good markers’ for the presence of the virus in the area. Probably all birds [crows and blue jay species] can get infected, but not all birds die,” Swinger said.

Wright indicated that “under normal circumstances” there’s no way birds can directly infect humans. However, dead birds shouldn’t be handled with bare hands.

Gloves should be used to carefully place dead birds in a double plastic bag, which should then be put into an outdoor trash receptacle.

Generally speaking, the virus can’t be spread from human to human. However, Wright makes reference to some recently released documented events.

“There were several cases when the new mother became infected right around the time of birth. It appears that the virus was passed on to the infant through nursing. Another case occurred through blood transfusion. A young lady, who was not previously infected, was in a car accident. She received several units of blood, one of which was later determined to contain West Nile. The victim died and her organs were made available for donation. Four organ recipients became infected by the virus,” Wright said.

Weight pointed out that plans are currently under way to screen blood for the presence of the virus. It’s expected that the screening procedures will be in place this summer before the peak season of West Nile activity.

Currently’ there’s no human vaccine for West Nile virus, though there is a vaccine for horses.

Some health officials and scientists, such as Swinger, believe West Nile will eventually disappear – as did the St. Louise virus, which had symptoms similar to West Nile virus and was also spread by mosquitos.

Others, such as Dr. Tim Jones, deputy state epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health, aren’t so sure.

He worries about the warm temperatures in southern states, which allow mosquitos to survive and thrive.

“No one knows what will happen,” Jones said.

All are quick to point out that, comparatively speaking, this particular virus isn’t a major health concern.

“There are a lot of viruses and bacteria that will produce an encephalitis or meningitis. West Nile is only one of them. The others can infect people of all ages,” he said.

“During the last summer, we had one case of West Nile encephalitis. During the same period of time, we had at least over a hundred cases of adult encephalitis due to many, many types of things,” Swinger said.

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