Mosquitos from Frankfort Test Positive for West Nile Virus

—Submitted by the Will County Health Department

Mosquito samples collected from two Eastern Will County monitoring sites operated by the Will County Health Department tested positive for West Nile Virus (WNV), late Wednesday, July 30.

Will County Environmental Health collected the samples from sites in Frankfort and Crete July 29. As of 11 a.m. today, seven Will County mosquito batches have tested WNV-positive this summer, including five samples from sites maintained by the Health Department. Additional testing conducted by the city of Naperville accounted for the remaining two county positives.

Will is one of at least 25 Illinois counties to confirm WNV activity in birds or mosquitoes in 2014. A cool and comparatively wet early summer has limited activity across the state so far, but WNV increases have been reported. Three new counties have confirmed activity this week; at least 97 mosquito batches or birds have now yielded positive WNV results.