(PatriotNewsDaily.com) – On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) announced that two people had caught a deadly West Nile mosquito-borne virus. As they stated the two people had been exposed to the virus in different parts of the country.
On August 29th, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 40s contracted the virus. The man had been exposed to the virus in Middlesex County in Massachusetts. Authorities have claimed that the virus exists in the Greater Boston area at moderate risk levels. This includes a number of areas including Berkshire County, Bristol County, Hampden County, Hampshire County, Middlesex County, Norfolk County, Plymouth County, Suffolk County, and Worcester County.
Robert Goldstein, the Public Health Commissioner has claimed that these are the first cases in 2023 so far that residents of Massachusetts have been identified to carry the virus. He further argued that August and September are considered the months with the highest risk for contracting the virus, as there are more mosquitoes that carry the virus during that time of year. He added that their sample tests from different parts of the Commonwealth have indicated that there is an increase in the WNV-positive mosquitoes in the U.S.
In 2022, there were a total of eight cases in Massachusetts with the first having been identified on August 25th. In 2021 the first reported case had been identified on September 1st. The West Nile virus first came to the U.S. in 1999 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has mentioned that since its arrival it has become the leading cause of mosquito-borne illnesses in the U.S.
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