West Nile virus continues to be a threat in northern Illinois.
The temperature may be cooling off, but you'll still want to keep an eye on those mosquitoes. Winnebago County officials confirmed this week that a bird tested positive for West Nile virus. It's the 13th year in a row the virus has been confirmed in the county. The infected bird was found much later than last year.
Map: Bird Cases Of West Nile Virus
Terri Howard with the Winnebago Health Department says inconsistent weather may have played a factor:
"It's like we didn't have a long stretch of hot and dry weather. It was always raining every other day, or chilly or windy conditions, so that probably lessened the amount of mosquito breeding sites," Howard said.
The peak period for West Nile has been from mid-July through the mid-October.
The virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked it up by feeding on an infected bird.
So far this year, there have been more than a handful of human cases of the illness, including a man in Boone County.
The Winnebago County Health Department offers a phone line for residents to report the location of dead birds. The report line number is 815- 720-4245. After calling in a report of a dead bird, you can dispose of the bird yourself, or leave it where it lay, if not picked up for testing within 24 hours of your call. When calling the hotline to report dead birds, please leave the address, town, Zip Code, type and number of dead birds found.
The Health Department also has a West Nile virus information line for residents who have questions or wish to speak to a health professional. That number is 815-720-4240.
