Kerala’s alert regarding West Nile Virus

The death of a child in Kerala’s Malappuram district has drawn attention to the epidemiology of the little-known West Nile Virus in India. Though awareness is low, the virus is endemic to several States. However, official records do not reflect this, given the difficulty of diagnosing WNV in its acute phase. More tests are typically needed to confirm WNV, and while the results appear in journals, they don’t always make it to State surveillance systems.