The number of human West Nile virus (WNV) cases in California increased by 57 during the past week, according to a California Department of Public Health (CDPH) update Tuesday.
This brings the new total human WNV cases to 238, including 9 fatalities from 26 counties this year.
The 57 additional cases were reported from the following counties: Butte (4), Fresno (1), Glenn (2), Imperial (1), Kern (2), Kings (2), Lake (1), Los Angeles (6), Orange (24), Riverside (1), San Bernardino (2), San Diego (2), San Joaquin (1), Santa Clara (2), Stanislaus (3), Sutter (1), Tulare (1), and Yuba (1).
This follows a statement by Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Sept. 3 when he said, “The proportion of mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus is at the highest level ever detected in California. We expect to see more people become infected as this is the time of year when the risk of infection is the highest.”
Nationally as of September 9, a total of 45 states and the District of Columbia have reported West Nile virus infections in people, birds, or mosquitoes. Overall, 579 cases of West Nile virus disease in people have been reported to CDC (the CDC report only has California at 182 cases). For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
