AMA Clinician Call: Ongoing Risks of West Nile Virus, Including Risks During Transplantation 

West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the contiguous United States. Although most people infected with WNV do not develop disease, roughly 20% of infected people will develop a febrile illness, and 1% will develop neuroinvasive disease (eg, encephalitis, meningitis, acute flaccid myelitis). One in ten patients with WNV neuroinvasive disease will die. Risk factors for more severe WNV disease and death include older age and being immunocompromised. Although primarily transmitted by Culex mosquitoes, WNV can also be transmitted by infected blood products and transplanted organs often resulting in severe disease. In 2025, there has been a substantial increase in WNV activity with 41% more severe disease cases and 32% more deaths than what is typically reported at this time of the year. In addition, CDC is currently working with multiple state health departments and clinical teams on possible transfusion, transplantation, or dialysis-related WNV clusters. This call will share the latest epidemiology, best practices for diagnosis, and guidance for special populations, including those receiving solid organ transplants or B-cell depleting monoclonal antibody therapies.

Carolyn Gould, MD, MSCR 

Carolyn Gould, MD, MSCR , is a board-certified infectious diseases physician and medical officer in the Arboviral Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at CDC. Her primary focus is clinical consultation and investigation of arboviral disease cases in the United States.

Kelly Broussard, MPH 

Kelly Broussard, MPH , graduated from the University of California Berkeley Master of Public Health program with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology. At the Texas Department of State Health Services, she serves as a senior zoonotic disease epidemiologist wherein she serves as the state ArboNET Coordinator and a subject matter expert on a variety of vectorborne and other zoonotic diseases. Kelly has overseen a variety of investigations and guided public health action in response to potential transmission of zoonotic agents via blood, organs, or tissues, including multiple West Nile Virus investigations.

Ricardo M. La Hoz, MD, FACP, FAST, FIDSA 

Ricardo M. La Hoz, MD, FACP, FAST, FIDSA, currently serves as Director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Program, Program Director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Medical Director of the Transplant Services Center, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. From 2016 to 2022, he served as an At-Large Member of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) Ad Hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee, including a term as Chair of the Committee from 2020 to 2022. Since 2024, he has served as Chair of the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice.

Erica Kaufman West, MD

Erica Kaufman West, MD, completed her undergraduate degrees at Valparaiso University in Indiana. She received her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She finished her Internal Medicine residency and her chief resident year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She stayed to complete her fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the West LA VA/Cedars-Sinai/Olive View-UCLA Medical Center program. She has been working in the Midwest since then, focusing on acute inpatient as well as outpatient care in HIV, Hepatitis C and wound care. She now works as the AMA’s Director of Infectious Diseases while maintaining her clinical practice.

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