[S]tate health officials have confirmed the year’s first case of human illness due to West Nile virus. The case involved an unidentified Addison County resident who was diagnosed earlier this month with neuroinvasive disease, a serious form of the illness that affects the nervous system.
Since 2003, there have been 12 confirmed cases of West Nile virus in Vermont. The most recent were in 2016 when two Windsor County residents were diagnosed with the neuroinvasive type of West Nile virus.
The virus is spread by mosquitos and has been detected in all Vermont counties. Most who are bitten by an infected mosquito do not get sick, about 20 percent develop flu-like symptoms and fewer than 1 percent develop the more serious illness.
There have been no cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) this year, health officials said. That virus is also spread by mosquitos and affects the nervous system.
The state does a mosquito surveillance each year testing for West Nile and EEE.
The risk of infection is highest in late summer and early fall and health officials encourage residents to avoid mosquito bites.
“Our surveillance has found mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus in all parts of the state,” said Bradley Tompkins, infectious disease epidemiologist with the Vermont Department of Health. “Mosquito-borne diseases can be serious and sometimes fatal. It’s important for people to protect themselves from bites.”
Officials recommend such precautions as wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts, limiting time outside at dawn and dusk, using insect repellent and draining areas where water has pooled.
For more information about West Nile virus and preventing mosquito bites, visit healthvermont.gov/mosquito.
