YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. — West Nile virus has been detected for the first time this year in Washington in mosquitos in Yakima County.
Mosquito pools in the Grandview Sewage Lagoons, which is near the border of Benton County, tested positive, the Yakima Health District said Friday. Two mosquito samples tested positive, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
There have not been any human or animal cases of West Nile reported so far this year in Washington.
Last year, six mosquito samples tested positive for West Nile virus, and four people were infected, according to the Washington State Department of Health. In 2021, 52 mosquito samples tested positive for West Nile – the most since 2016 – and four people were infected.
West Nile virus spreads through the bite of an infected mosquito, which gets infected after feeding on birds with the virus. West Nile does not spread by direct contact with infected people or animals.
Eighty percent of people don’t develop symptoms, according to the health district. However, people who are symptomatic could develop a fever, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea or rash. About one in 150 people who are infected develop severe illness impacting the central nervous system that results in encephalitis or meningitis, the health district said.
To avoid the virus, the health district urged people to avoid being bitten by using insect repellent, wearing long sleeves and pants at dawn and dusk and controlling mosquitos indoors and outdoors by eliminating standing water.
There is no vaccine for West Nile virus.
West Nile virus was first detected in Washington state in 2002, three years after it appeared in the U.S. for the first time in New York City.