County’s first West Nile case of 2006 found in Moss Beach

A dead crow in Moss Beach was found to be carrying West Nile virus, the first case of what the Examiner is reporting could be the most severe season for the disease so far.  We’ve had a wet winter, and there’s plenty of standing water to play host to mosquito larvae.

“I do expect to see at least one human case of West Nile virus originate in San Mateo County this year, but nothing on the order of Sacramento County last year,” which led the state with 177 human cases, said Dean Peterson, director of environmental health for the county. The one human case of the virus reported in the county in 2005 was brought in from outside, Peterson said.

I’ve seen county mosquito abatement trucks on the Coastside a couple of times already since the rains have let up.