PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota has its first confirmed human case of West Nile virus this year.
The state Health Department says the case is in a Minnehaha County resident who is in the 10-19 age group.
The mosquito-borne virus was first confirmed in South Dakota in 2002. Since then, the state has reported 2,208 human cases, including 696 hospitalizations and 32 deaths.
State Epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger says about three-fourths of people who get the virus don’t get sick. Symptoms include fever, headache, body aches and rash.
Kightlinger says people can reduce their risk by doing such things as wearing mosquito repellent and getting rid of standing water that gives mosquitoes a place to breed.