{"id":462345,"date":"2026-09-13T06:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462345\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T06:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:45:09","slug":"oakland-county-detects-first-probable-human-case-of-west-nile-virus-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462345\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland County detects first probable human case of West Nile virus in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oakland County announced its first probable case of West Nile virus in 2026, following six <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/detroit\/news\/first-case-of-west-nile-virus-confirmed-by-detroit-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">other human cases<\/a> confirmed in Michigan so far.<\/p>\n<p>Oakland County health officials are not releasing further information on the patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/detroit\/news\/human-case-of-west-nile-virus-michigan-blood-donation\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The first case<\/a> in the state for 2026 was detected in August through routine screening of a blood donation, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/detroit\/news\/west-nile-virus-wayne-county-resident-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">first case in Wayne County<\/a>\u00a0was detected a few days after.<\/p>\n<p>Oakland County Health Division is encouraging residents to protect themselves against mosquito-borne diseases, including West Nile and eastern equine encephalitis viruses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is an important reminder that West Nile Virus and other similar diseases are present in the Fall,&#8221; said Kate Guzman, health officer for Oakland County Health Division. &#8220;We strongly encourage residents to protect themselves from mosquitoes until the first hard frost of the year.&#8221; \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the Health Division, West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne virus transmitted when mosquitoes bite an infected bird. The virus is then spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>How can you protect yourself against mosquito-borne viruses?<\/p>\n<p>Oakland County&#8217;s Health Division urges residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites by following these instructions:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Use an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered insect repellent.Get rid of mosquito breeding sites by removing standing water around your home, including any containers that collect water; cleaning clogged roof gutters and treating retention ponds and drainage ditches with a mosquito larvicide.Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants.Limit outdoor activity from dusk to dawn when mosquitoes are most active.Make sure there are no holes in windows and door screens.\u00a0<br \/>What are the symptoms of West Nile virus?<\/p>\n<p>Most people who are infected with West Nile virus do not experience any symptoms or have a mild illness that may include fever, headache and body aches, according to health officials. <\/p>\n<p>However, in some people, West Nile virus can cause serious disease-causing inflammation and swelling of the brain. When an illness is present, it typically begins two to six days after a mosquito bite.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>People over 50 are more likely to develop serious or life-threatening symptoms of West Nile virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland County announced its first probable case of West Nile virus in 2026, following six other human cases&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[9585,1570,3169,143,904,145,144,796,99203],"class_list":["post-462345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-environmental-protection-agency","tag-health","tag-mosquitoes","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-wayne-county","tag-west-nile-virus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}