It was the second time this week that a dead bird was found to be carrying the virus in the Boston area. The infected crow died in Hopkinton on July 21. Wednesday said a dead crow in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain also carried the virus. No results have been released from the child's tests, and so far no human cases of the illness have been found in Massachusetts. Tests have so far failed to find the virus, which killed seven people in New York last year, in a small sampling of mosquitoes.
People get West Nile after being bitten by mosquitoes that have preyed on crows carrying it.
Virus symptoms can include high fever, headache and body aches, muscle weakness, loss of consciousness or rash. Health officials say the elderly and young are more susceptible to the virus. Massachusetts is the northernmost point the virus has been found. So far this year, the virus has been discovered in mosquitoes or birds in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Emergency Meeting Hopkinton town officials planned to meet this afternoon in a second emergency meeting to discuss what steps they could take to counter the virus.