Health

Season’s 1st human case of West Nile virus in Brooklyn confirmed

August 17, 2015 Associated Press

Mosquitoes infected with dangerous West Nile Virus have been caught, in the past, in traps like these set up Prospect Park. Eagle file photo by Anne-Katrin Titze

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This season’s first human case of the West Nile virus in New York City has been confirmed.

City health officials said Sunday the virus was confirmed a Brooklyn man who was hospitalized with viral meningitis. They say the patient was over the age of 60 and had been treated and released.

Officials say human cases of West Nile virus occur every year in the city mostly from July through October. There have been a total of 318 New Yorkers diagnosed with West Nile virus since it was first found in the United States in 1999.

The virus tends to be spread by mosquitoes that bite birds carrying the disease and then bite humans or other mammals. Symptoms include sudden high fever, muscle pains, and a headache that worsens.