Oklahoma health officials say the state's first two cases of West Nile virus this year were not transmitted by bites from the type of mosquitoes that thrive in massive floodwaters like the kind that covered the state the past month.
Tulsa Health Department epidemiologist Nicole Schlaefli says the variety of mosquito that breeds in floodwaters, the Aedes, is mainly a nuisance and not a carrier of the disease.
She says bites from another type of the insect, the Culex mosquito, likely caused the West Nile cases.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health said Thursday that residents in Okmulgee and McIntosh counties are the state's first two West Nile cases this year. Spokeswoman Jamie Dukes said Thursday the McIntosh County resident was between the ages of 5 and 17, and the Okmulgee County resident was between the ages of 18 and 49. No other information, including the patients' gender, was available.
Summertime typically marks the beginning of the season for the mosquito-borne virus in Oklahoma. The highest risk months for exposure to the virus are from July through October.
Last year, 17 cases of the potentially deadly virus were recorded in the state but there were no deaths. There were 84 cases in 2013 and eight deaths. In 2012, there were 176 cases and 15 deaths.
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