Two people in New Jersey have died after being infected with West Nile virus — the fourth and fifth deaths in the U.S. from the mosquito-borne disease this year.
State health department disclosed the deaths In a statement Friday.
Little is known about the victims, other than that they have been identified as “elderly.”
One of them lived in Cumberland County, while the other called Mercer County home.
These deaths have happened one after the other Two virus-related deaths in WisconsinThe state health department announced on Thursday, and one in illinoisThe health officials there gave this information on Tuesday.
A total of eight West Nile cases have been reported in New Jersey this year, causing seven people to be hospitalized with encephalitis or meningitis.
Two people were diagnosed with the disease after tests showed blood they donated was positive for the virus.
The six latest cases involve residents age 50 and older who are from across the state — including Bergen, Passaic, Camden, Somerset, Hudson and Middlesex counties.
Two West Nile cases were reported earlier this year in Middlesex and Union counties.
In 2023, there will be 14 cases and one death in New Jersey.
There have been six West Nile cases reported in the Big Apple this year, four in Queens and one each in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
A total of 20 cases have been reported across New York state, including seven in Suffolk County and two in Westchester County.
been there done that 289 human cases The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed that 33 states have reported the most West Nile virus outbreaks this year.
Although West Nile virus has been infecting New Jersey residents for the past 25 years, state officials said the first cases were reported much earlier this year, in early July.
A case of a rarer and more deadly mosquito-borne disease, Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, was also identified in the Garden State this summer — the first case since 2019.
