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SALT LAKE CITY — Mosquitoes in Utah County tested positive for West Nile virus, and human cases of the disease were reported Grand and Carbon counties, authorities said Thursday.
The Utah County Health Department Mosquito Abatement District detected the virus in a group, or pool, of mosquitoes in the Footprinter Park area in Provo, the department said Thursday in a news release.
No human cases of the virus have been reported in Utah County, but a third human case was reported in Grand County, the Southeast Utah Health Department said in an emailed news release Thursday.
The infected individual has not been hospitalized but is suffering from symptoms of the virus, though the case does not appear to be the neuroinvasive form of the disease, a more severe type of West Nile virus which can often leave a patient paralyzed, the news release reads.
Officials from the Southeast Utah Health Department also announced a new human case of the virus in Carbon County on Thursday afternoon in a news release.
The person infected in Carbon County is an adult and was not infected with the neuroinvasive form of the disease. No other details about the person were released due to medical privacy laws.
Other human cases have been reported in Salt Lake, Washington, Uintah and Grand counties. The virus has also been detected in mosquitoes in Box Elder, Sevier, Weber and Davis counties, but no human cases have yet been reported in those areas.
Health officials say people ages 60 and older are at greatest risk for the disease. Adults are advised to use an EPA-registered insect repellent with DEET. Follow instructions before children use a DEET repellent, according to health officials.
Most people who contract the disease do not exhibit symptoms, but symptoms can include fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, vision loss, paralysis and coma, according to health officials.
