Saint Louis encephalitis
human disease
Saint Louis encephalitis is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Saint Louis encephalitis virus. Saint Louis encephalitis virus is a member of the family Flaviviridae related to West Nile virus and Japanese encephalitis virus. Saint Louis encephalitis virus is endemic to the New World and is present from southern Canada to Argentina, from the east coast and west coast of the United States, and in the Caribbean Islands.
History
In 1933, an outbreak of encephalitis occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, and the neighboring St. Louis County with over 1,000 cases reported and 197 deaths. The newly constituted National Institutes of Health of the United States was appealed to for epidemiological and investigative expertise. The previously unknown virus that caused the epidemic was isolated by the NIH team first in monkeys and then in white mice.
Several human epidemics of Saint Louis encephalitis with more than 100 cases occurred between 1937 and 1990 in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida.
On August 8, 2001, an outbreak of this disease prompted an emergency alert in Louisiana after 63 cases were reported.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Saint Louis encephalitis” as human disease. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as human disease. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q567660. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1933, 1937, 1990 and 2001.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Saint Louis encephalitis”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Saint Louis encephalitis primary sources, Saint Louis encephalitis archive and Saint research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Saint Louis encephalitis”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Saint Louis encephalitis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.