First case of West Nile virus | 日本のニュースを英語で読むならジャパンタイムズウィークリー


	UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010 The Japan Times Weekly 2005年10月8日号（バックナンバー）

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First case of West Nile virus

The West Niles virus is spread by mosquitoes that have bitten infected birds.

A Japanese man who fell ill after returning from an eight-day trip to Los Angeles in September tested positive for West Nile virus in Japan's first confirmed case of the mosquito-borne illness, the Health Ministry said Oct. 3. The 30-year-old Kawasaki man has since recovered.

A West Nile outbreak would be highly unlikely in Japan because the virus is normally spread to humans by mosquitoes that have bitten infected birds, not by human-to-human transmission.

The virus was first identified in birds in Uganda in the 1930s. The United States reported its first human case in New York in 1999, and it has since infected more than 16,000 people in that country, killing 684 of them. Most infections are mild, but the most severe cases can involve paralysis or swelling of the brain.

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