West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family Flaviviridae, specifically from the genus Flavivirus, ...WestNilevirusFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopediaJumptonavigationJumptosearchSpeciesofvirusThisarticleisaboutthevirus.Forthedisease,seeWestNilefever.WestNilevirusAmicrographoftheWestNileVirus,appearinginyellowVirusclassification(unranked):VirusRealm:RiboviriaKingdom:OrthornaviraePhylum:KitrinoviricotaClass:FlasuviricetesOrder:AmarilloviralesFamily:FlaviviridaeGenus:FlavivirusSpecies:WestNilevirusRibbonrepresentationoftheNS2B/NS3proteaseofWestNilevirusWestNilevirus(WNV)isasingle-stranded RNAvirus thatcauses WestNilefever.Itisamemberofthefamily Flaviviridae,specificallyfromthegenusFlavivirus,whichalsocontainstheZikavirus,denguevirus,andyellowfevervirus.WestNilevirusisprimarilytransmittedbymosquitoes,mostlyspeciesofCulex.TheprimaryhostsofWNVarebirds,sothatthevirusremainswithina"bird–mosquito–bird"transmissioncycle.[1]Contents1Structure1.1Genome1.2Structuralproteins1.3Nonstructuralproteins2Lifecycle3Phylogeny4Hostrangeandtransmission5Disease5.1Humans5.2Horses6History7Epidemiology8Prevention9WNVandclimatechange10Seealso11References12ExternallinksStructure[edit]Likemostotherflaviviruses,WNVisanenvelopedviruswithicosahedralsymmetry.[2]Electronmicroscopestudiesreveala45–50 nmvirioncoveredwitharelativelysmoothproteinshell;thisstructureissimilartothedenguefevervirus,anotherFlavivirus.[2]Theproteinshellismadeoftwostructuralproteins:theglycoproteinEandthesmallmembraneproteinM.[3]ProteinEhasnumerousfunctionsincludingreceptor binding,viralattachment,andentryintothecellthroughmembranefusion.[3]Theouterproteinshelliscoveredbyahost-derivedlipidmembrane,theviralenvelope.[4]Theflaviviruslipidmembranehasbeenfoundtocontaincholesterolandphosphatidylserine,butotherelementsofthemembranehaveyettobeidentified.[5][6]Thelipidmembranehasmanyrolesin viralinfection, includingactingassignalingmoleculesandenhancingentryintothecell.[7]Ch