Egypt, Israel, South Africa, and some of Asia and Europe are all countries who had the West Nile virus before North America did. In 1937 is when the first outbreak of the West Nile virus occurred. The woman who first had the West Nile virus came from the district of Uganda ("What you should know about West Nile Virus" 1). The West Nile virus didn't occure in the United States until about four year ago. In 1999, the West Nile virus appeared in New York ("West Nile Fact Sheet" 1). There was no sign of the West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere before 1999 ("Questions and Answers About West Nile Virus" 1). How the West Nile virus arrived in the United States isn't exactly known. What is thought to happen is that an infected bird or mosquito carried it over here from another country. This is just a theory and the true reason has not been identified ("West Nile Fact Sheet" 1).
Sometimes when it comes to the West Nile virus, people have no symptoms at all. In fact, most people don't even know that they have the virus when they are infected with it ("West Nile virus Symptoms and Care" 2). Others on the other hand, have mild symptoms. These symptoms include having a fever, headache, and body ache. Other mild symptoms are such things like breaking out with a rash or swollen lymph glands ("Questions and Answers About West Nile Virus" 2). A small percentage of the people who are infected with the West Nile virus have severe symptoms. These symptoms are found more in elderly people than anyone else. Encephalitis, high fever, muscle weakness, and bad headaches are all apart of severe symptoms ("West Nile Virus Symptoms, History, and Prevention of West Nile virus" 1). If someone does get the worst case of the West Nile virus, this person could die. Encephalitis causes inflammation of the brain and it also causes the person with the virus to have more symptoms. These symptoms are more harmful and include things like paralysis, confusion, and coma's ("West Nile Virus Fact Sheet" 2).