Compare and contrast dengue fever and West Nile fever. Which disease would be easier to eradicate and why?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: Both dengue fever and West Nile fever are caused by flaviviruses, otherwise called arboviruses, because they are viruses spread by a biting insect. Mosquitoes are the vector for both diseases; however, different species with different geographic ranges spread each disease. Where the two diseases differ is in their reservoir. The reservoir for West Nile virus is wild bird populations, where mosquitoes transfer the virus between infected birds. Humans are an accidental host that usually do not develop high number of virus particles in their blood and are thus not able to spread the virus. The only known reservoir for the dengue virus are infected humans, thus dengue virus would be easier to eradicate because it has only a human host. Vaccination (if it was available) would be able to prevent the virus from infecting its only host and the virus would no longer exist. West Nile virus has a very large reservoir in wild animals, and will thus be impossible to eradicate.

Biology & Microbiology

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Which of these is designed by researchers to test only a single prediction of a hypothesis at a time?

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Biology & Microbiology

As rat pups mature growth of their snouts and tails outpaces growth of the rest of their bodies, producing the appearance of sexually mature males. It is found that sexually mature female rats prefer to mate with mutant, sexually mature males that possess snouts and tails with juvenile proportions. Which of the following terms is (are) appropriately applied to this situation?

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Biology & Microbiology