West Nile virus infection in children.
West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging flavivirus responsible for an increasing number of outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease in North America, Europe, and neighboring countries. Almost all WNV infections in humans are transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Transmission during pregnancy and through breastfeeding has been reported, but the risk seems to be very low. West Nile disease in children is less common (1-5% of all WNV cases) and associated with milder symptoms and better outcome than in elderly individuals, even though severe neuroinvasive disease and death have been reported also among children. However, the incidence of WNV infection and disease in children is probably underestimated and the disease spectrum is not fully understood because of lack of reporting and underdiagnosis in children. Infection is diagnosed by detection of WNV-specific antibodies in serum and WNV RNA in plasma and urine. Since no effective WNV-specific drugs are available, therapy is mainly supportive.
a 1 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Luisa
L
Barzon
b 2 Microbiology and Virology Unit, Padova University Hospital, via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Monia
M
Pacenti
c 3Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV IRCCS, via Gattamelata 64, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Sinigaglia
a 1 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Berto
a 1 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Marta
M
Trevisan
a 1 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Giorgio
G
Palù
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D009033:Culicidae / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008297:Male; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D014902:West Nile virus
D000914:Antibodies, Viral
West Nile fever; West Nile neuroinvasive disease; West Nile virus; breast milk; diagnosis; encephalitis; epidemiology; in utero infection; prevention; symptoms