Assess the association between immune response genotype set and susceptibility to neuroinvasive disease.

The severity of West Nile virus (WNv) infections are a consequence of genetic factors that result in increased WNv replication and subsequent immune pathology in individuals with severe (encephalitis or meningitis) disease. Our preliminary draft of 156 genes includes potential candidates to study variation in the severity of WNv infections. Using a candidate gene approach we have also selected a panel of candidate immune response genes for SNP analysis guided by the collective understanding of virus-host interactions. This portion of the study will genotype these genes in a population of WNv patients and control s to identify genes associated with variations in the severity of WNv disease.