The Oakland County Health Division has recorded its first human fatality from West Nile virus in Michigan for 2015. The 81-year-old woman died due to complications from the virus. This was the first death from the virus in Oakland County since 2003.
Although summer has ended, health officials continue to encourage Michigan residents to take precautions against mosquitos, and to eliminate sources of standing water where mosquitos may breed.
Most people infected with West Nile virus have no symptoms, but about one in 150 develop a life-threatening illness.
Oakland County Health and Human Services Director George Miller says mosquitos will continue to breed for as long as the warm weather lasts. That could be another month or more, with current temperature trends.
"We need about two very hard frosts to kill off these mosquitos. With this kind of weather we're having, we're not likely to get that any time soon," says Miller.
