First case of West Nile virus in Santa Cruz County

A dead bird in Santa Cruz County is the first West Nile virus detection of the summer.

The Santa Cruz County Health Department said a dead crow was found in Live Oak near 30th Avenue between Moran Lake and Pleasure Point on June 13.

The crow was submitted to the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) West Nile virus program and it was determined on June 21 that the bird had West Nile virus.

“We appreciate the participation of alert County residents in the detection of WNV. WNV is primarily a bird virus that can affect humans and other animals and can be spread by the bite of summer mosquitoes. In humans, symptoms of infection range from no symptoms to fever and flu-like illness to serious illness affecting the central nervous system in less than 1% of cases,” said County Health Officer, Dr. Arnold Leff.

Health officials said the virus found in Santa Cruz County was expected as there has been WNV activity in nearby counties.

According to the CDPH, last year California had 536 reported human cases and 41 deaths attributed to West Nile virus.

“This year as compared to 2017 California WNV activity looks to be less in most areas of the state in birds and mosquitoes, but with four human cases so far,” Dr. Leff said.

No human cases have been found in Santa Cruz County this season.

Dr. Leff said, “We will continue to submit dead bird finds and trapped mosquitoes for WNV testing, and we have two sentinel chicken flocks from which we obtain and submit blood samples.”

The public is asked to protect themselves from mosquito bites and to drain any standing water around their homes and report mosquito biting and standing water or green swimming pools in their neighborhood.

To report dead birds to the State hotline at 1-877-WNV-BIRD or online http://www.westnile.ca.gov/ .

For more information on West Nile virus please see. http://www.westnile.ca.gov/ .