With the first observations into the mechanistic nature of these, for the most part submicroscopic obligate intracellular parasites, has been recorded by an eighteenth century English doctor. E. Jenner noticed that milkmaids tended to catch a mild form of the “the pox”. Jenner presumed it originated from the cows. After a brief healing time, the milkmaids were then protected against the more typical disfiguring ravages of smallpox. Probably an after effect of not being able to convince his colleagues, Jenner’s observation went unexplained for nearly a century.3 Recorded observations such as this and living histories, like those of the BC Chinese that noticed that inhaling the dried crusts from smallpox lesions decreased their chance of infection,4 began man’s effort to identify and challenge the enemy.

Future medicine is now in the process of changing this passive role of wait and attack to attacking the problem or illness before it strikes or has a chance to incorporate itself within the body. Gene therapy is the upcoming defense tool that man is developing for the battle against viral and microbial infection and the onset of disease. With recognition of specific genes that are directly integrated with certain susceptibility, such as the one mentioned above with West Nile Virus, efforts can now be put towards developing gene alteration or gene supplementing pharmaceuticals. These are only a couple of a virtual plethora of future attempts to change the individual’s susceptibility before exposure to the virus occurs. Throughout the struggle of survival for man, enemies have come in several different forms, sizes and modes of action. Whether it’s a combative animal or severe environmental conditions, man’s enemies have not amounted to the fight that viral species have provided. The ability to change the inner ‘being’ or molecular make-up in order to survive man’s attempts of destruction have placed viruses at the top of man’s ‘most wanted’ list of combatants.

With the importance of the immune response, researchers are interested in the susceptibility differences of infected individuals. The Washington University School of Medicine has found that B cells and their respective antibodies are vital in defending the body against West Nile Virus. A study involving mice that lacked B cells revealed an inability to combat the virus. However, mice without either T cells or B cells could resist infection by the virus if given doses of B cells, confirming the vital role B cells play in addressing West Nile Virus.

A more in-depth view of the virus structure offered a cross sectional map. Here the team compiled a view showing concentric layers of density. This leads to the team to believe that the outer protein structure is a multilayer design. The team also attempted to identify specific regions on the surface of the virus that were responsible for specific functions. One such identification was the region that is used for receptor binding to the host cell membrane.

Hence the known fact that viruses lack the machinery of living cells to generate biochemical energy and utilize it, and therefore they are dependant on living cells for their reproduction. With this new development in their understanding, researchers had to now accept the notion that viruses represent chemical matter rather than some mysterious biological phenomena. With this notion, viruses could now be isolated, purified and characterized much like the known table of chemicals.3,4

Other vertebrates have been studied to explore their extent as reservoir host for the West Nile Virus. Dogs and cats are of particular interest due to their closeness with humans. There has been only one published report isolating the West Nile Virus from a dog in Africa in 1982. Although not well documented, a serosurvey of dogs (survey of serum samples) in New York City during the initial West Nile Virus outbreak showed that dogs are infected by the West Nile Virus. The mode of infection is believed to be the same as that of humans, mosquito bite. Along with the interest of possible hosts, there is no evidence that leads officials to believe that animal to human or human to animal transmission occurs.Limited and new information have been opening the understanding of human to human transmission. While typical blood components carry the active virus, it is then believed to be possible for human to human transmission much like other more popular viruses such as HIV. Blood transfusions, organ donations and even breast milk are now under extreme scrutiny by health care officials. As a result the American Red Cross has put an additional West Nile Virus screening step into their blood collection process.

Some topics in this essay:
Nile Virus, Virus Neighborhood, Loeffler Frosch, West Nile, Virus Viruses, Louis Pasteur, Institute France, BC Chinese, west nile, RNA DNA, west nile virus, nile virus, Purdue University, cell membrane, transmission cycle, reservoir host, spread west, host cell, equine encephalitis, spread west nile, human human, infected west nile, human human transmission, passive role,