West Nile Virus: Found in Elmore County and Idaho

West Nile Virus was first reported in the contiguous U.S. in the late summer of 1999 in New York and was first detected in Idaho in 2003. Only four years later the virus had been found some 2,385 miles away.

The first reported cases in Idaho were found in Gooding County when alligators were found to be infected by WNV in November of 2003.

The reason for the very quick spread of this virus lies in the biology of the virus and its main host, birds.

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