West Nile Virus Threat Level Raised in Boston

By Bret Silverberg

State officials have raised Boston’s West Nile virus threat level to moderate based on two recent positive tests of the virus. 

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said in a statement Monday that the threat level for the virus has been raised to moderate in Boston. The announcement comes after two positive tests from mosquito pools in Jamaica Plain and Hyde Park at the end of July, and because the number of trapped mosquitoes has doubled.

The elevated alert level is another reminder to the public to take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, the statement says. There have been no reported human cases of mosquito-borne illnesses in Boston this year.

Officials have raised the threat level in Brookline as well, according to the statement.

West Nile virus is most commonly transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito infected with the virus, but it poses very low risk to most people.