West Nile virus kills 2 in New Jersey as death toll across US rises to 5
Two people have died in New Jersey after contracting West Nile virus — marking the fourth and fifth deaths in the US this year from the mosquito-borne disease.
The state’s health department disclosed the deaths in a statement Friday.
Little is known about the victims, beyond that they’ve been identified as “older adults.”
One lived in Cumberland County while the other called Mercer County home.
The deaths come on the heels of two virus-related fatalities in Wisconsin, the state’s health department announced Thursday, and one in Illinois, health officials there reported Tuesday.
There have been a total of eight West Nile cases in New Jersey this year, leading to seven hospitalizations for encephalitis or meningitis.
Two of the individuals were diagnosed after tests showed the blood they had donated tested positive for the virus.
The six newest cases involve residents 50 and older from across the state — including Bergen, Passaic, Camden, Somerset, Hudson and Middlesex counties.
Two cases of West Nile were previously reported this year in Middlesex and Union counties.
There were 14 cases in New Jersey and one death in 2023.
The Big Apple has had six cases of West Nile this year, with four in Queens and one each in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
A total of 20 cases have been reported throughout New York state, including seven in Suffolk County and two in Westchester County.
There have been 289 human cases of West Nile virus across 33 states this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday.
While West Nile virus has been infecting New Jersey residents for the last 25 years, state officials said the first cases reported this year in early July came much sooner.
One case of a rarer and more deadly mosquito-borne disease, Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, was also identified this summer in the Garden State — the first since 2019.
