West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus

Summertime, without doubt is the best season for students and the mood that it brings along with it. It is the time that most people treasure; however, as we go along and have a wonderful time in the period, it is very important that we remain healthy and safe. This season not only brings the things we obviously expect, but also has been associated with viruses which can cause various diseases. People who enjoy themselves along the lakes and rivers should keep in mind of the threatening of West Nile Virus.

A virus is an invisible organism consisting of genetic material. It duplicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses defect all types of organism from animals and plants to bacteria and archea. Diseases that occur in numbers more than expected, constitutes an epidemic. An epidemic is a disease which attacks many people at the same time.

West Nile Virus is one severe mosquito borne virus. It is known to affect people mostly in North America, and it breaks out during summer and extends to fall. It had been discovered in early 1937 back in Africa, then spread to the United States around 1999 and has caused disease in 48 states.

Sixty two individual cases and a result of 23 deaths occurred by year 2002. Since then over sixteen thousand individuals have been infected with West Nile Virus. Over six hundred individuals have died from it in the United States as it is now infectious all over North America. West Nile Virus is a flavivirus, similar to yellow fever. It circulates in birds and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Since humans contract West Nile Virus mosquito bites, it is best to prevent contracting the disease by killing off the vectors or by using repellant because there are no antiviral or vaccines to treat such a disease.

Since 1999 when West Nile Virus came to the United States, the center of disease control reported the following statistics. From 1999 to 2012, more than 6,000 infections and 1,246 deaths have occurred in the United States. The morality rate infected with West Nile Virus is between 3 percent, and 15 percent is highest among elderly. Seven hundred and twenty human cases and thirty seven deaths have occurred in Michigan so far in 2012.

Hypothesis: Would the West Nile Virus killer be affective to all organisms? What are the procedures that can obtain healthy results? Experimenting West Nile Virus would start with elderly people, since people over 50 have a higher risk increase of the disease. Those with weakened immune systems due to HIV/Aids and cancer are going to be the control group. In this case two groups are going to be experimented. An experimental group which is people over 50 and a control group which are people with weakened immune systems. Now that there is an experimental and a control group, we can proceed to the experiment and obtain results from the experimental group. Results then appear either