WNV can cause infection in humans, birds, horses, and other mammals, and lead to vector-borne diseases including West Nile fever and encephalitis in humans.HomeAboutCDCPublicationsPeriodicalsTaiwanEpidemiologyBulletinOriginalArticlePeriodicalsPeriodicalsTaiwanEpidemiologyBulletinTaiwanEpidemiologyBulletinTaiwanEpidemiologyBulletinAboutTaiwanEBAboutTaiwanEBAboutTaiwanEBIntroductionInformationforauthorsErratumVolumeIssueOriginalArticleOutbreakInvestigationDiseaseSurveillanceCDCAnnualReportStatisticsofcommunicablediseasesandsurveillancereportinTaiwanareaStatisticsofcommunicablediseasesandsurveillancereportTaiwanTuberculosisControlReportOriginalArticleFacebookLinePrintBackRisksofWestNileVirusInfectioninTaiwanYu-ChiLin,Jhy-WenWu,Ding-PingLiu2010Vol.26NO.17CorrespondenceAuthor：Yu-ChiLinAuthorAffiliationsAbstract：WestNilevirus(WNV),anarbovirusbelongingtotheFlaviviridaefamily,istransmittedbymosquitoes.WNVcancauseinfectioninhumans,birds,horses,andothermammals,andleadtovector-bornediseasesincludingWestNilefeverandencephalitisinhumans.Birdsaretheprimaryreservoirandamplifyinghosts,andtheviruscanbemaintainedinabird-mosquito-birdcycle.MosquitoesoftheCulexspeciesarethemajorvectors.AlthoughthevirusiswidelydistributedthroughoutAfrica,Europe,Asia,andAustralia,resultinginendemicdiseases,ithadnotbeendetectedintheUnitedStatesbefore1999.ThefirstincursionofWNVintoAmericahadcausedasevereoutbreakofhumanencephalitisinNewYorkCitywhichmadethepublichealthtopayattentiontothedisease.Todate,patientswithWestNilefeverhaveneverbeenfoundinTaiwan,but5speciesofmosquitoesand46differentbirdsarepotentialtransmissionvectorsorreservoirs,accordingtothestudiesdonebytheCentersforDiseaseControlandPreventionoftheUnitedStates.ResearchesonthesusceptibilitytoWNVamongmosquitoesandbirdsinTaiwanarenotavailableatpresent,butweshouldkeepwhathadhappenedinAmericainmindandbevigilantaboutthepotentialofdiseaseoutbreak.Inadditiontoroutinevectorcontrolandeliminationofthemosquitolarvalhabitats,establishmentofsurveillancesystemsto