State: Positive Tests For West Nile Have Tripled In 2011

Health officials and pest controllers say this year's Ohio weather patterns have meant more mosquitoes, including more carrying West Nile virus. Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Shannon Libby says 248 pools of mosquitoes collected from traps have tested positive for the virus so far this year. That's up from 78 by this time in 2010. Libby says Ohio has had no reports of human cases of West Nile, which can lead to coma, paralysis and death. An official with the public health agency serving Dayton and Montgomery County describes a "bumper crop" of mosquitoes because of the weather, which has served up a wet spring followed by a dry summer. A mosquito control company says the pests are more plentiful than in years.