SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Public Health today reported that a dead blue jay collected Aug. 10 in Monmouth in Warren County has tested positive for West Nile virus, marking the 47th Illinois county this year to report West Nile activity.

Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director, said the state has now counted six humans, 138 birds, 457 mosquito pools and two horses with West Nile virus in nearly half of the state's 102 counties since surveillance by the state and local health departments began May 1.

The human cases are a 67-year-old man from Jo Daviess County, a 39-year-old man from Jackson County, a 14-year-old boy from St. Clair County, a 70-year-old man from Kendall County, a 47-year-old man from Ford County and a 59-year-old man from Boone County.

In 2003, Illinois recorded 54 West Nile disease human cases, including one death, and in 2002, the state led the nation with 884 cases and 66 deaths.

Dr. Whitaker urged people to continue to take simple, common sense precautions to avoid mosquito bites and protect themselves from West Nile disease. These precautions include:

• Avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes are most active, especially between dusk and dawn.
• When outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, and apply insect repellent that includes DEET according to label instructions. Consult a physician before using repellents on young children.
• Make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings.
• Eliminate all sources of standing water that can support mosquito breeding, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires and any other receptacles.

WNV is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird. Most people with the virus have no clinical symptoms of illness, but some may become ill three to 14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito.

Only about two persons out of 10 who are bitten by an infected mosquito will experience any illness. Although illness from West Nile is usually mild and includes fever, headache and body aches, serious illness and death are possible. Persons over 50 years of age have the highest risk of severe disease.

Additional information about West Nile virus can be found on the Department's Web site at www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/wnv.htm or people can call the Department's West Nile virus hotline (866-369-9710) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.