COLUMBUS: State health officials say Ohio’s confirmed number of West Nile virus cases has increased to 60 — that’s more than double the human cases documented just three weeks ago.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that two people have died in what officials are calling one of the worst summers for the mosquito-borne virus in the state and across the nation.
One of the victims was a 76-year-old man in southern Ohio, and the other was an 87-year-old man in the Cleveland area.
Statewide, 47 people have been hospitalized, with symptoms that began between July 10 and Aug. 28.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, 36 of Ohio’s 88 counties have confirmed West Nile cases in humans, mosquitoes or horses.
