Cypy Healthy

West Nile virus has already spread to 26 counties in California, infecting three people, health officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The spread prompted health officials to call on the public to take aggressive preventive measures, including immunizing their animals, draining standing water, putting screens on windows and doors and preventing mosquito bites.

All three infected people were reported in Kern County which leads in the number of cases reported of the mosquito-borne disease. The county also reported 41 dead birds that tested positive for the virus.

No other county has reported human cases so far this year, but health officials warn that high temperatures that have hit much of the state could prompt a more rapid spread of the disease than last year.

Sixty new cases of dead birds testing positive for the virus were reported last week across the state, according to the Los Angeles Times.

West Nile virus, unheard of in California before 2002, is now endemic in California and there is no hope of eradicating it. It spreads most rapidly in July and August.
source:http://english.people.com