Second West Nile death in North Hempstead

A second Long Islander has died from West Nile virus this year, as the number of mosquito pools testing positive for the virus in Nassau and Suffolk reached an 11-year high, according to health officials.

The victim was identified Friday only as an adult older than 85 from the Town of North Hempstead who became ill Aug. 12 with fever, weakness and altered mental status. The person's age and sex were not released to protect the identity, Nassau health department spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain said.

On Sept. 2, another elderly resident, also from North Hempstead and identified only as a person older than 80, died after becoming ill on Aug. 8.

Ten more human cases of the virus in Nassau have been verified, for a total of 34 this year, as well as 136 positive mosquito pools, a health department release said Friday.

Suffolk's health department said Friday two new human cases of the virus have been identified, raising its count to six this year. There have been no deaths in Suffolk. The two new cases, both from the Town of Babylon, included a person older than 55 and one younger than 55, according to spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern. The individuals were hospitalized but are now at home recovering. Five of the six Suffolk cases have been from the Town of Babylon - the other from the Town of Huntington.

The department added that 15 more mosquito pools have tested positive, bringing to 251 the number of positive pools Suffolk-wide. The total 387 positive pools recorded across the Island this year is the highest number since 1999, county officials said - more than 10 times the number of pools that tested positive in both counties last year.

Both counties say they have stepped up surveillance in areas where mosquitoes have tested positive or where there have been human cases. Nassau has 42 mosquito traps located throughout the county. Scott Campbell, chief of the arthropod-borne disease lab in Suffolk, said the county increased its number of traps from 39 in June to 126 by the first week of September.

Campbell said weather is believed to be the cause for this year's increase in West Nile: A wet spring increased the number of mosquitoes. This was followed by a dry summer, which has depleted the places where mosquitoes and birds - which can transfer the virus to mosquitoes - can get water. This means they are more likely to come in contact with each other and pass on the virus, Campbell said.

With Gary Dymski