This disease of the central nervous system is characterized by inflammation of the brain.
Symptoms typically start out as headache, fever, and extreme lethargy.
These can eventually lead to coma, double vision, delirium, deafness and facial palsy. Permanent aftereffects may include deafness, epilepsy and dementia. Given the seriousness of this dreaded disease, it is little wonder that people in the New York City area are so frightened. Because of the highly transmittable nature of encephalitis by mosquitoes, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control fear that the disease could spread outside of metropolitan New York. CDC officials theorize that the West Nile type of encephalitis was introduced to New York City when someone with the disease deplaned from an international flight and was bitten by mosquitoes.