From Birds to People: The West Nile Virus Story

Learning Objectives

  • Think about how infectious diseases spread, and how they can be contained.
  • Learn about the many factors that affect the spread of a mosquito-borne infectious disease.
  • Understand the difference between the infectious agent, vector, and host, and that some hosts play a role in spreading a virus and others don’t.
  • Learn about what makes a vector effective in spreading an infectious disease.
  • Understand that viral infection can have different effects in different hosts and in different individuals.
  • Gain an appreciation for the range of studies needed to understand mosquito-borne diseases.
Circle flow chart of a mosquito with an arrow pointing to a bird with an arrow point back to the mosquito. A red arrow points from the mosquito to a human. Small hexagons scattered around the arrows represent the spreading of a virus.