SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Public Health today announced that a 14-year-old St. Clair County boy is the state's third reported case of West Nile disease this year.

Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director, said the boy was hospitalized with West Nile encephalitis and is now recovering at home.

A spinal fluid sample tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease by the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory.

The state's other cases this year have been a 67-year-old man from Jo Daviess County with West Nile encephalitis and a 39-year-old Jackson County man with West Nile fever.

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

Besides reporting a third human case, Dr. Whitaker also announced a bluejay collected July 27 in Raymond in Montgomery County and mosquitoes collected July 30 in Kane in Greene County have tested positive for West Nile virus, bringing to 42 the total number of counties this year with a confirmed positive since state and local health departments began surveillance on May 1. A total of 115 birds and 222 mosquito pools have now tested positive for West Nile virus.

Dr. Whitaker said individuals can reduce their risk of West Nile disease and other mosquito-borne diseases by taking these precautions:

• 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 include fever, headache and body aches, serious illness and death are possible, particularly for persons over the age of 50 or persons that are immunosuppressed.

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.