HAUPPAUGE - The New York State Department of Health has notified Suffolk County that an additional mosquito pool has tested positive for West Nile virus. The sample was collected from the Belmont State Park by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services on July 11. This is the forth positive sample in Suffolk County to test positive for West Nile virus this year. There were also two crows collected that tested positive for West Nile virus, one in Greenlawn and the other in Huntington.  These are the second and third birds collected this year in Suffolk County to test positive.

West Nile virus, first detected in Suffolk County in 1999 and again each year thereafter through 2007, is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito.  The virus can cause serious illness, and in some cases, death.   It is estimated that 20 percent of those who become infected will develop West Nile fever. Mild symptoms include fever, headache and body aches, and occasionally a skin rash and swollen lymph glands.  Symptoms of severe infection (West Nile encephalitis or meningitis) include high fever, muscle weakness, stupor and disorientation.   Since 2001, when the first human case of West Nile virus was identified in Suffolk County, there have been 30 human cases of infection, and four deaths, due to the virus.