After a friend of mine travel to Costa Rica the summer of 2006 he contracted West Nile Virus. He had thought he caught the flu from his constant surfing and rainy weather but the flu wasn't the culprit.
West Nile Virus can be transmitted by something as typical as a mosquito bite. Although the chances of contracting the virus are quite low, people who live or plan to travel in mosquito infested areas can contract it.contract West Nile Virus when they feed on infected birds. The infected blood circulates within a mosquito's salivary glands for a few days. When a human or animal is bitten by an infected mosquito it may take three to fourteen days for West Nile Virus symtoms to show up. Not everyone who contracts the virus will have a severe reaction. West Nile Virus symptoms can be very mild ranging from a small fever and flu-like symptoms or it can result in permanent neurological affects or even death.
West Nile Virus originated in remote areas such as Africa, Eastern Europe, West Asia, and the Middle East. Until 1999 it had not previously been documented in the Western Hemisphere. While we are not sure where the U.S. and Canadian virus originated it is thought to have come from strains found in the middle-east.
references
http://westnilevirus.nbii.gov/mosquitoes.html
www.cdc.gov/westnile
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