Figure 4.

Pathogenesis of WNV infection. (1) Culex quinquefasciatus transmitting WNV during a blood meal on susceptible host and releasing its infectious saliva, (2) immunomodulation by mosquito’s saliva followed by infection of keratinocytes and Langerhans cells, (3) migration of infected cells to nearby draining lymph nodes, (4) viremia followed by migration of infected macrophage from the lymph nodes, and (5) spleen from which the virus spread to other organs of tropism. Source: Adapted from Petersen et al. [1].