Birds test positive for West Nile

The Illinois Department of Public Health says the state has its first cases of West Nile virus in birds for 2008.

Doctor Damon Arnold, director of the state public health department, said Thursday that the crows were collected on June 24th in Rockford.

West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has fed on an infected bird.

Mosquito batches have already tested positive in Adams, DuPage, Cook, Jackson, St. Clair and Tazewell counties.

The state says 46 of Illinois' 102 counties had a West Nile positive bird, mosquito, horse or human case last year. A total of 101 human cases of West Nile disease, including four deaths, were reported in 2007.

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