The elderly and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. The virus apparently can be spread only by mosquitoes, which bite an infected person or animal and carry the virus to the next person or animal they bite. There is little to worry about just yet since the virus is carried by only one species of mosquito, Culex pipiens, which does not become active for another month. The Culex species isn t around until May, at the earliest. But Sarah MacGregor of Dragon Mosquito Control in Stratham, past president of the Northeastern United States Mosquito Control Association, predicted a bad spring ahead.
Officials urge people to get rid of stagnant pools of water where mosquitoes can breed.
Last year West Nile virus spread much faster than predicted, apparently carried in the bloodstream of migrating birds. The virus has now been found in birds, mosquitoes and a few horses from Washington, D.C., to the Canadian border. No human cases were found in New Hampshire, although 22 people in the state were tested when they showed symptoms. The virus was not found in the more than 6,350 mosquitoes caught in traps throughout the state. But seven infected birds six crows and a robin were found in New Hampshire, all in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties.