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player ready...Two more Illinois residents were confirmed dead from the West Nile virus Friday, and the spreading, mosquito-borne disease also claimed its first animal victims at Lincoln Park Zoo: two geese and a vulture that lived in outdoor exhibits.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said a 77-year-old man from Fulton County died Sunday and a 70-year-old man from Oak Lawn died Wednesday, both from West Nile encephalitis. Their deaths brought the number of humans to have died from the virus in Illinois this year to 25. State officials said 473 people in the state have been diagnosed as infected.
Statewide many thousands of wild birds have also died from the virus, and Lincoln Park Zoo officials said at a news conference Friday that they were not surprised the zoo’s outdoor birds were affected.
The zoo said two of its three red-breasted geese living in its waterfowl pond have died, on Aug. 22 and Aug. 24. One of the three turkey vultures in the children’s zoo died Aug. 30.
This week the zoo received confirmation that the virus was the cause of death. The virus first appeared in this country in New York in 1999.
“Though Lincoln Park and zoos across the country have taken every possible precaution against West Nile virus, birds are extremely susceptible to the disease, and these cases did not really come as a surprise to us,” said Dominic Travis, the zoo’s veterinary epidemiologist.
In humans, very few of those infected become seriously ill.
Lincoln Park is the second state zoo to report West Nile fatalities. Last week, Downstate Decatur reported one of its white pelicans and two of its Chilean flamingos died earlier this month.
In the last two years, 150 zoo birds, representing 50 different species, have died nationwide from the virus.
“We have braced ourselves for potential losses in our collection and actually have been fortunate to consistently have seen a relatively low mosquito count on zoo grounds,” said Robyn Barbiers, Lincoln Park’s chief veterinarian.
Of all animals, birds by far are the most susceptible to West Nile, said Travis, but most of the zoo’s birds are not at risk because they live indoors, protected from mosquitoes.