In milder climates, West Nile virus can be transmitted year round. Stay indoors at dawn, dusk and in the early evening. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants whenever you are outdoors. Apply insect repellent containing 35 percent DEET sparingly to exposed skin. Two dead crows found in recent days in and around Rockville have tested positive for the virus, along with two others from neighborhoods in the District, according to Maryland and city officials.
Crows get the virus when they are bitten by infected mosquitoes.
The discoveries marked a geographic jump from the area south of Baltimore, where the virus first turned up in Maryland two weeks ago, as well as the microbe's southernmost extension since it appeared in the United States last year. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's announcement yesterday also said that six more infected crows were found in Baltimore and Baltimore County, bringing to 21 the number of infections found in the state. No human infections have been reported in Maryland, Virginia or the District. Human infections, while not serious in most cases, can cause potentially fatal inflammation of the brain and its protective sac. Seventeen people in New York and New Jersey have become ill, including a New York woman who remains in a coma.