Humans are an Incidental Host of West Nile says MPH’s Schaffner
Transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, West Nile is virtually impossible to track in people: In 80% of cases, the virus causes no symptoms. Symptoms are usually mild in the other 20% and include fever and headache, but in less than 1% of infected people, more serious consequences can occur.
West Nile virus is most commonly spread through mosquito bites. But humans are actually not a mosquito’s “preferred lunch” says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. “They prefer to bite birds. It’s not a virus that wants to make us sick. We are an incidental host.”