Kane County advises residents to watch for West Nile and rabies

Kane County Health Department officials advise you to keep your guard up against animal and insect bites in the coming months as the historically problematic time period for West Nile virus and rabies infection is in full swing.

More Kane County residents have contracted West Nile virus between Aug. 15 and Oct. 15 than any other time in the year for past six years. As the summer cools off, people tend to forget about mosquitoes.

As a result, people pay less attention to bug repellent and getting rid of stagnant pools of water that support mosquito breeding.

Kane County has the only reported case of a human infected with West Nile in Illinois so far this year. There was also one crow in Batavia that tested positive for the virus earlier this year.

Kane officials said they're also alarmed by a steep drop in the number of rabies vaccination tags issued to dogs and cats in the area this year. Only 3,704 tags were issued through the end of July, about 1,700 fewer than the department issued through July of last year.

That's a problem because there has been an increase in the number of rabid bats throughout the state recent years, and this is also the time during which cases of rabid bats rises even more.

Health department officials said both dogs and cats must get rabies shots even if they never leave the home, since bats can easily find ways inside. The health department removed 11 bats from homes and one bat from a day care facility in the past week alone to test them for rabies.