West Nile Virus closed for the season

North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
News Release

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The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has finished their surveillance for the 2007 West Nile Virus (WNV) season, including the reporting of dead crows, ravens and blue jays.

“It was a fairly quiet West Nile Virus season in our district,” said Peter Jekel, Director of Environmental Health. “We received 110 reports of dead birds and of those, 36 were suitable for testing. Only one bird tested positive for West Nile Virus.”

In 2007, the Health Unit did mosquito surveillance as well as collection and submission of dead birds. There were no mosquito pools that tested positive for WNV and there were no known human cases in our district. A complete report of the 2007 West Nile Virus season is currently being prepared and will be released at the end of 2007.

In 2006, the Health Unit received reports of 169 dead birds of concern, and submitted 44 for testing; seven were found to be positive. There were two known human illnesses due to West Nile virus, and no positive mosquitoes were found.

For more information, call the Health Unit at (705) 474-1400 or toll-free at 1-800-563-2808, or visit www.nbpsdhu.on.ca.

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