Increased Human Incidence of West Nile Virus Disease near Rice Fields in California but Not in Southern United States.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic land use change, including agriculture, can alter mosquito larval habitat quality, increase mosquito abundance, and increase incidence of vector-borne disease. Rice is a staple food crop for more than half of the world's population, with ∼1% of global production occurring within the United States (US). Flooded rice fields provide enormous areas of larval habitat for mosquito species and may be hotspots for mosquito-borne pathogens, including West Nile virus (WNV). West Nile virus was introduced into the Americas in 1999 and causes yearly epidemics in the US with an average of approximately 1,400 neuroinvasive cases and 130 deaths per year. We examined correlations between rice cultivation and WNV disease incidence in rice-growing regions within the US. Incidence of WNV diseas

SUBMITTER: Kovach TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6085780 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature