The Province – For the first time ever, the presence of West Nile virus has been found in British Columbia. Public Health officials made the announcement on Saturday, 22 August 2009.
“This doesn’t really come as a surprise,” said Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C. Provincial Health Officer. “We have been anticipating the arrival of WestNile virus in our province for several years now.”
A sample collected from a mosquito pool in the south Okanagan tested positive for the virus at the BC Centre for Disease Control, public-health officials said in the release.
In addition, two possible cases of the virus are being investigated in Kelowna residents who had travelled in the central and south Okanagan region.
While West Nile virus has afflicted B.C. residents before, all previous cases were acquired during travel outside the province.
Read more @ http://www.theprovince.com/health/West+Nile+virus+detected+first+time+health+authorities/1920941/story.html