The five patients range in age from 30-80 years old.
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It’s Oakland’s first West Nile-related death since 2003.
Four of those people are located in Bridgeport, and the fifth person is located in Shelton. “The positive birds mean that residents of these counties need to be more vigilant in their personal protective measures to prevent mosquito bites”, Steve Todd, Health Officer, said.
Four of the five patients were hospitalized as a result of the virus, but all five are now recovering, public health said.
Dr. Philip Armstrong, medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said the number of West Nile-infected mosquitoes in Bridgeport have “declined significantly” over the past three weeks, but residents should still take precautions when spending time outside.
The health department says that many people exposed to the virus don’t experience symptoms at all, but in other cases the symptoms can cause hospitalization. Earlier this month, Michigan health officials identified the state’s first confirmed human cases of West Nile Virus for 2015 in Macomb, Monroe, and Ottawa counties.
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The city of Dallas is facing an emergency as West Nile virus spreads, killing at least 14 people in Texas and 26 nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
