A diagnosis of West Nile fever may be missed or delayed because the symptoms are not unique to infection with West Nile virus. A recent mosquito bite in a geographical area known to hold infected mosquitoes will aid in the diagnosis....more about West Nile fever »
The other diseases for which West Nile fever is listed as a possible alternative diagnosis in their lists include:
Related medical mistakes may include:
Sinusitis is overdiagnosed: There is a tendency to give a diagnosis of sinusitis, when the condition is really a harmless complication of another infection, such as a common cold.
Whooping cough often undiagnosed: Although most children in the Western world have been immunized against whooping cough (also called "pertussis"), this protection wears off after about 15 years. Thus, any teen or adult with a persistent cough may actually have whooping cough. This is particularly dangerous for babies too young to be vaccinated, and any un-vaccinated children. Whooping cough can be fatal to an infant. The cough symptoms of whooping cough is usually productive initially, but then becomes a persistent dry cough, lasting up to 100 days. Elderly grandparents may also be a reservoir of undiagnosed whooping cough.
Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.
When checking for a misdiagnosis of West Nile fever or confirming a diagnosis of West Nile fever, it is useful to consider what other medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative conditions relevant to diagnosis. These alternate diagnoses of West Nile fever may already have been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of West Nile fever. For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases, see Overview of Misdiagnosis.
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