LINCOLN- The state is seeing an early increase in the number of mosquito pools, or batches of trapped mosquitoes, testing positive for West Nile virus, health officials said last week. Forty-two new pools tested positive for the virus across the state during the week that ended July 21, said Jeff Hamik, vector-borne disease epidemiologist with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

That means 60 pools total have tested positive so far this season. Usually, the number of West Nile-positive pools peaks later in the season, typically in August or September. “We’re seeing an early increase, that’s for sure,” he said. Exactly why the early increase is occurring, however, is not clear.

Over the past five years, the state has recorded an average of 2.6 West Nile-positive pools by the same point in the season. Last year, 992 pools of Culex mosquitoes, the kind that can carry the virus, were tested. Of those, 88 were positive for West Nile. After this week’s samples are tested, Hamik said, health officials will have tested more Culex mosquitoes than in all of 2022.

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