Three More Birds In State Test Positive For West Nile Virus

HARTFORD (AP) –– Three more birds in Connecticut have tested positive for the West Nile virus.

Two infected crows and a raven were found in Andover, Ledyard, and Waterford between July 3 and July 15, the state Department of Public Health announced Monday. That brings the number of birds that have tested positive so far this year in the state to eight.

Other infected birds have been found in Southington, Westbrook, Wallingford, Columbia, and Somers.

“As in previous years, West Nile virus appears to be widespread in Connecticut,” said Norma Gayle, acting commissioner of the Public Health Department.

Also, infected mosquitoes were found in Redding on July 8, the agency said. Those mosquitoes were predominantly a bird-biting species.

Last year, 17 people in ten towns in Fairfield, Hartford, and New Haven counties contracted West Nile virus. Ten people were hospitalized and all recovered, the Department of Public Health said. No human cases have been reported this year.

West Nile is transmitted to humans through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird.