Thirty-seven Massachusetts communities have reported cases of the West Nile virus in mosquitoes in the past three weeks, according to figures from state health officials. The four western counties of the state have reported over two dozen occurrences.
West Springfield's Director of Public Health Jeanne Galloway said that while these reports are not a surprise, they've come weeks earlier than expected this year. Health officials are trying to spread the word about the virus.
"Most parts of the commonwealth have mosquito control disctricts and they can follow up with doing some spraying or treatment or some sort of other mitigation activity," Galloway explained. "Most communities are going to be doing the outreach and education and just trying to convince people that they need to take action to protect themselves."
While West Nile has raised a lot of attention, Stephen Rich, a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amhest is a bit skeptical.
"We spend a lot more money in this state surveilling mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases, which are rarer and tend not to cause serious illness, than we do for example to study ticks, which are a much bigger threat," said Rich.
There have been no cases of West Nile reported in humans or animals so far this year in Massachusetts.
