West Nile virus, first isolated in
the 1930s in the West Nile region of Uganda, has become a concern in
recent years in temperate zones in Europe and North America. This
virus poses a threat to human, equine, and animal health. The most
serious consequence of infection is fatal encephalitis in humans and
horses, and mortality in domestic and wild birds. The top 25 papers in
West Nile virus research include details of outbreaks, most notably a
1999 outbreak among humans in New York City resulting in seven deaths;
the role of migratory birds in the spread of the disease as well as
the pathology of affected migratory birds; protein analyses of virus
isolates; novel detection assays, in particular a reverse
transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction; and the potential protective
effects of substances such as melatonin and dehydroepiandrosterone in
murine in vivo experiments. Several papers dealing with
structural analyses of viruses of the genus Flavivirus, of
which the West Nile virus is a part, are included in the list of top
25 papers. While not technically focusing on West Nile virus itself,
these papers demonstrate the relation of West Nile virus to other
flaviviral organisms.
Methodology
To construct this database,
papers were extracted based on title- and author-supplied keywords for
West Nile Virus. The keywords used were as follows: 'west nile
virus'.
The baseline time span for this database
is 1992 - April 2002. The resulting database contained 366 papers; 989
authors; 35 countries; 115 journals; and 289 institutions.
Rankings
Once the database was in place, it was used to generate the lists of top 25 papers, authors, journals, institutions, and nations, covering a time span of ten years and four months.
The top 25 papers are ranked according to total cites. Rankings for author, journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways: according to total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper. The paper thresholds used to determine scientist, institution, country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper were as follows: 6, 5, 1, and 2, respectively.
