West Nile Virus Found In Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA -- West Nile Virus was detected in a bird found in Santa Cruz County, officials said Friday. The county's Health Services Agency said it was notified by the state that the virus was detected in an American Crow on June 13 after being found by a resident in Live Oak near 30th Avenue.

Officials said the find was expected, as there has been West Nile Virus activity in nearby counties, however, the find was "a bit earlier for finds within the county compared with previous years."

Last year California had 536 reported human cases and 41 deaths attributed to West Nile virus. This year as compared to 2017 California West Nile Virus activity looks to be less in most areas of the state in birds and mosquitoes, but with four human cases so far, officials said.

West Nile Virus is primarily a bird virus that can affect humans and other animals and can be spread by the bite of summer mosquitoes. In humans, symptoms of infection range from no symptoms to fever and flu-like illness to serious illness affecting the central nervous system in less than 1 percent of cases, officials said.

The public is asked to protect themselves from mosquito bites and to drain any standing water around their homes and report mosquito biting and standing water or green swimming pools in their neighborhood.

Anyone who sees a dead bird can report it to the State hotline at 1-877-WNV-BIRD or online http://www.westnile.ca.gov/.

Mosquito and Vector Control can also provide free mosquito-eating fish for yard water features and un-maintained pools and can be reached at 831-454-2590 or www.agdept.com. Horses are particularly susceptible to West Nile Virus and should be vaccinated.

For more information on West Nile Virus please see. http://www.westnile.ca.gov/.

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