West Nile Virus

West Nile virus is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) most commonly spread by infected mosquitoes. West Nile virus can cause febrile illness, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord).In 1937,

West Nile Virus was first identified in Africa

In 1994, it out broke in Algeria

In 1996, a large outbreak in Romania

In 1999, the first case was detected in New York City

Over the next 5 years, the virus spread across the continental United States, north into Canada, and southward into the Caribbean islands and Latin America

(Source: www.cdc.gov/westnile/faq/genQuestions.html)

The total number of West Nile Virus submissions and references (including both published and unpublished papers) from 1985 to 2012 was 609.

Since West Nile Virus was first identified in North America in 1999, there was an increase of references in 1999.

Data Source: GenBank

Researchers from the USA have contributed the largest number of submissions since 1999, the year when West Nile Virus was first detected in New York City.

As time goes by, not only does the number of submissions increase, but also the number of authors per submissions increases.

Each color represents a different continent. The named researchers are bridge nodes who act as connectors between continents.