Virginia’s Commissioner of Health E. Anne Peterson, MD, MPH, announced on Oct. 13 that a dead crow found in Prince Edward County in Southside Virginia has been confirmed to have West Nile virus. The crow is the first bird to test positive for West Nile virus in the state. No horses or humans have contracted the disease in Virginia.

So far, this is a single finding, and according to Peterson, recent frost in the area has probably killed many of the mosquitoes.

The infected crow was found by a citizen near an area known as Darlington Heights near Farmville. The crow tested positive for West Nile virus in the Virginia Department of Health lab in Norfolk on Oct. 4, and the case was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.”

The Virginia health department is expanding surveillance for West Nile virus to include all dead wild birds in Prince Edward County and in the immediately surrounding counties of Charlotte, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Amelia, Cumberland, Buckingham and Appomattox. Bird surveillance in Virginia originally focused on crows, blue jays and raptors. Now, any species of wild bird found in Prince Edward or the counties immediately bordering it should be reported to the local health department. The virus is still most commonly found in crows but has been found in other bird species in the Northeast this year