Mosquitoes, fever, and even death may be some of the things that come to mind when asked to think about West Nile Virus. Many of us would consider mosquitoes a small compromise compared to what summer offers, but what if the risk was greater than a bump on the skin and an itch? In the not-so-distant past, West Nile virus hit the news across the country and alarmed its residents. Today, however, all this seems to be an afterthought. The intentions today are to cover the first reported cases of West Nile Virus, the symptoms of West Nile Virus, and ultimately the impact of West Nile Virus on the United States. Through the research here, the hope is that we can all have a better understanding of how West Nile virus works. West Nile virus is named after its birthplace in the West Nile district. According to (Gubler, Duane, Marfin, Anthony & Petersen, Lyle, 2003) it was in 1937 that Uganda had its first isolated case of West Nile virus (para. 4). This first case was found in the blood of a woman judged to be feverish. According to (James Sejvar 2003): The patient presented in the context of a large epidemiological study on the yellow fever virus; however, inoculations of mice with the patient's serum resulted in the isolation of a virus with physical and pathological properties similar to those of two flaviviruses, St. Louis encephalitis virus and Japanese B encephalitis virus, and which shares immunological relationships with these viruses. (para. 3) It has been established that West Nile virus is a flavivirus. Flavivirus has been defined as "a type of arbovirus that causes a wide range of diseases in humans, including yellow fever, dengue, and West Nile fever. It is spread by ticks or mosquitoes." (flavi...... middle of paper ......encounters with West Nile were recorded. Between trips to Uganda where we were first introduced to West Nile, epidemics in Israel and finally on our coast in New York We covered the symptoms of West Nile and explained how scary the thought is that between 70% and 80% of those infected show no symptoms at all. Through that research we discussed how many different types of West Nile we could contract and how each played a very different role in the disease. Finally, we approached the response and impact for the United States. We covered the 2002 and 2012 epidemics, we covered areas of high concentration (e.g. Texas, Louisiana, Illinois), along with measures put in place for research and funding. Remember that we still need more funding and public awareness to help advance the cause against West Nile Virus..