(Courtesy Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services)
LINCOLN — Nebraska health officials have reported the state’s first positive test for Cache Valley virus in a mosquito pool since they started testing mosquitoes for that virus this year.
According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, its west central district on Aug. 6 collected samples from a mosquito pool in Lincoln County as part of the state’s mosquito surveillance program.
A DHHS spokesperson said this was the state’s first testing of mosquitoes for CVV. She said limited expanded testing of mosquito samples began this year as well for the Jamestown Canyon and LaCrosse encephalitis viruses.
CVV is spread to people by infected mosquitoes. Human disease from the virus is rare, with only seven cases ever reported in the United States. However, according to DHHS, all those have resulted in serious diseases such as infection of the brain (encephalitis) or lining around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis), and three resulted in death.