West Nile virus mosquitoes found in 13 towns in Connecticut

West Nile virus mosquitoes found in 13 towns across southern Connecticut; city's first human case reported in Staten Island

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been found summering in Connecticut, as well as in parts of Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester.

By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, July 26, 2012, 11:12 AM
AP

Break out the bug spray, Muffy!

West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes in 13 towns in Connecticut, including tony Greenwich, Stamford and New Haven health officials said.

The infected blood suckers were trapped in late June and July in towns across southern Connecticut's Fairfield, New Haven and Hartford Counties, The Hartford Courant reported.

The virus was expected to spread to more areas as summer winds down "with increased risk for human infection throughout the state," Theodore G. Andreadis, chief medical entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, told the newspaper.
Separately on Thursday, the New York City Health Department said a man in Staten Island was sickened by the virus, becoming the city's first human case of West Nile this year.

The man, who was over 50, was hospitalized with viral meningitis and has been released, the department said.

The virus, first identified in New York in 1999, was detected on Staten Island on July 10 and has also struck areas of Long Island and Westchester this summer.

Two samples found in Suffolk County in late June - from a mosquito in Islip and a dead crow in Northport - tested positive in early July, while a batch of mosquitoes found in Mamaroneck tested positive July 20.

Last year, there were 11 cases in the city, including four in Queens alone. Two people died.

Also last year, 20 Long Islanders were infected with the disease, including a 70-year-old Nassau County man who died.

In Westchester County, three people were sickened in 2011.

The city has ramped up its virus control plan by spraying larvacide in marshy areas and other common mosquito breeding grounds around the five boroughs.

City dwellers were warned to clean up pools stagnant water in gutters and other containers and to wear protective clothing or insect repellent in the early evening, when mosquitoes are feeding.

West Nile, which causes flu-like symptoms, is most likely to cause serious illness in the elderly, people with weak immune systems and babies.


West Nile virus mosquitoes found in 13 towns across southern Connecticut; city's first human case reported in Staten Island - NY Daily News