CHEYENNE WELLS, Colo.—A second human case of West Nile virus has been confirmed as health officials Monday worried the cool wet spring followed by a hot summer could allow disease-spreading mosquitoes to thrive.
The victim is from Cheyenne County in eastern Colorado but additional details on the victim were not released by state health officials. West Nile, the state’s first this year, was confirmed in a person in Logan County in northeastern Colorado.
West Nile is usually transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, which can pick it up from birds they bite. John Pape, an epidemiologist with the state, said several counties report extremely high populations of Culex mosquitoes, the type that spread the disease.
“Although only three mosquito pools have tested positive so far, this will change very quickly,” he said.
Only about one in five infected people get sick. One in 150 infected people will develop severe symptoms including neck stiffness, disorientation, coma and paralysis.
Last year, 345 people contracted West Nile in Colorado, including seven who died.
