Well attestedNamed from the place
West Nile fever
noun · first attested 1937
The virus is named for a district in Uganda it long ago outgrew.
An illness caused by a mosquito-borne virus, ranging from mild fever to brain inflammation.
3.0000°N 31.2000°E · Q4261446
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1937
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
West Nile sub-region
- In English
West Nile fever
Researchers isolated the virus in 1937 from a woman's blood in the West Nile district of northwestern Uganda, and by convention the region's name went onto the pathogen. It reached New York in 1999 and is now established across North America, thousands of miles from any part of the Nile.
Uganda
All 3 entries