Ohio confirms 2 human cases of West Nile virus

Asso­ci­ated Press

COLUMBUS — The state has con­firmed this year’s first two human cases of West Nile virus in Ohio, amid a sharp increase in mos­qui­toes found car­ry­ing West Nile.

The Ohio Depart­ment of Health said Tues­day that a 19-year-old woman has been hos­pi­tal­ized in Cuya­hoga County with menin­gi­tis related to the poten­tially dan­ger­ous virus. Offi­cials also said a 14-year-old boy in north­west Ohio’s Put­nam County has been con­firmed with a West Nile fever.

The depart­ment said in a state­ment that both teens are recovering.

Last year, the state recorded five cases of West Nile virus in humans.

The health depart­ment says it has found 450 pools of mos­qui­toes col­lected from traps that have tested pos­i­tive for the virus so far this year, com­pared to 260 dur­ing all of 2010.

Posted by AP News on Aug 30 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.