Mount Sinai Researchers Find Significant Delays in West Nile Virus Reporting
Mount Sinai researchers found significant delays in reporting human cases of West Nile virus, hampering real-time forecasting of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease, according to a study in the JAMA Network Open. Researchers discovered that reports of human cases of West Nile virus in the United States were delayed by two to 14 weeks between illness onset and confirmation of West Nile. The lags were due to the length of time it took health departments to confirm a West Nile case or reporting delays between health care professionals and the health department. "Current reporting delays impact our understanding of how an outbreak is progressing, and our research highlights areas in which disease surveillance can improve," said Nicholas DeFelice, MD, assistant professor of environmental and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
— Nicholas DeFelice, MD, Assistant Professor, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai