Smithtown resident gets West Nile virus, bringing number of human cases on Long Island to 36

Another Suffolk resident is ill with West Nile virus, this time someone from Smithtown, bringing to at least 36 the total number of Long Islanders sickened this year by the mosquito-borne illness, the county health department said Friday.

The resident, who is older than 50, was hospitalized in August and is now recovering at home, the department said in a news release.

The public reporting was delayed pending definitive confirmation by blood test, Grace Kelly-McGovern, a spokeswoman for the health department, said in an email.

The first case of the virus in a human in 2024 was reported Aug. 7. Now there have been six from Islip, nine from Brookhaven, three from Smithtown and one each from Babylon and Huntington. All but two of the 20 cases were in people older than 50, the age at which people begin to be most susceptible to the virus.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, didn’t respond to a message seeking an update.

As of Oct. 3, there were 16 cases in that county.

West Nile, first identified in 1937 in Uganda’s West Nile district, and on Long Island in 1999 and every year since, is the top cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Only 2 out of 10 infected people get symptoms. But 1 in 5 develops a fever with other symptoms including headache, body ache, joint pain, rash, diarrhea or vomiting. Severe illness occurs in 1 in 50 among people older than 60. Between 3% and 15% of those with severe illness die.

In Suffolk, the county has mosquito hunters using traps and samples to monitor for the virus' presence. Across the region, local governments spray to kill mosquitoes. 

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.