West Nile virus hits two states

PHOENIX – Arizona and New Mexico have reported this year’s first human cases of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, health officials said.

On Wednesday, New Mexico reported its first human case. At a news conference Thursday, Dr. Jonathan Weisbuch, director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health in Arizona, said an adult from the county developed symptoms May 8 and was admitted to a hospital.

Weisbuch said that person has now fully recovered.

In all, eight residents from Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, contracted the virus last year, but only one was infected within the county, Weisbuch said. That case – a person who became ill in September and has now recovered – was confirmed by the CDC as West Nile virus earlier this month.

Arizona’s mosquito season usually runs from August through September after the monsoon rains, and “this is much earlier than we expected,” Weisbuch said. “It’s going to be a longer season.”

“We could see several hundred cases,” he said.

Last year was the first for West Nile to appear in areas west of the Continental Divide.