SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health today reported that a dead crow collected in Cook County has tested positive for West Nile virus.

The crow was found May 15 in LaGrange and submitted by the Cook County Department of Public Health for testing. The University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Urbana/Champaign today determined the bird was positive for West Nile virus.

Two other dead birds collected earlier this month in Hampshire in Kane County have tested positive for West Nile virus.

Dr. John R. Lumpkin, state public health director, has recommended the following precautions to reduce the risk of mosquito bites:

• Whenever outdoors between dusk and dawn, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Loose-fitting, light colored clothing is best.
• Use mosquito repellent containing 25 percent to 35 percent DEET when it is necessary to be outdoors, applied sparingly to exposed skin or clothing, as indicated on the repellent label. Consult a physician before using repellents on young children.
• Check for and repair any tears in residential screens, including porches and patios.
• Eliminate stagnant water in bird baths, ponds, flower pots, wading pools, old tires and any other receptacles in which mosquitoes might breed.

Due to the recent heavy rains and flooding in Illinois, questions have been raised about an increased risk this year for mosquito-borne diseases. The mosquitoes that may breed as a result of flooding are commonly called floodwater or temporary pool mosquitoes and are not usually disease carriers. The Culex or house mosquito, which can carry West Nile virus or St. Louis encephalitis, breeds in warm, stagnant water and will begin to increase in numbers early in the summer.

Since 1999, when West Nile virus was first discovered in the United States in New York, the virus has been detected in 28 states as far west as Iowa and Missouri. This year, West Nile virus activity has been identified in Florida, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as Illinois.

West Nile virus was first confirmed in Illinois in September 2001 when two dead crows from the Chicago metropolitan area tested positive for the virus. A total of 138 birds from seven Illinois counties (Cook, Crawford, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will) tested positive for the virus last year. In addition, two horses – one from Cook County and one from Kane – tested positive for the virus in 2001. There have been no human cases of West Nile encephalitis in Illinois residents in 2001 or 2002.

In the past three years, there have been 149 cases of West Nile encephalitis in the United States, mostly in the New York area, including 18 deaths.

Additional information about West Nile virus can be found on the Department's Web site at <www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/wnv.htm>.