2nd North Algoma Bird Tests Positive for West Nile Virus

Algoma Public Health is warning residents to take precautions against West Nile virus as another bird's tested positive for it in North Algoma.

The health unit says a wild bird in North Algoma recently tested positive for the virus, the second to do so this season - after another in mid-August - indicating the virus' "continued presence...in Algoma and the potential risk to its residents even in late summer".

It came just a day after Public Health Sudbury and Districts reported a second American Crow in the Greater Sudbury area had tested positive, after another in July.

The health units encourage precautions to protect against mosquito bites: wear light-coloured, tightly woven but loose clothing, with long-sleeved shirts, long pants, socks, and shoes when outdoors; apply an approved mosquito repellent; avoid the outdoors at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active; remove standing water from your property, as that's where mosquitoes can breed; and repair or replace screens on windows and doors to avoid mosquitoes entering your home.