West Nile Virus In FDL County

Fond du Lac County has its first human case of West Nile virus. County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller doesn’t know much about the person or what community they are from, but the person was not hospitalized. She says they must have visited a physician’s office complaining of symptoms and the physician decided to test for West Nile virus. She recommends taking steps to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes, which includes limiting your time outdoors at dawn and dusk and applying repellent to exposed skin and clothing. Another tip is to make sure to dump anything containing standing water in your yard to reduce mosquito breeding grounds. A dead bird tested positive for West Nile virus at the end of May in the County. Mueller says 80 percent of people who have the virus don’t experience the symptoms so there may be more people in the County infected with the virus that we don’t know about.