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Aug 8, 2008 10:55 am US/Mountain

Mesa Co. Records First West Nile Case On W. Slope

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) ― A Mesa County man in his 20s has become the first person to be diagnosed with the West Nile virus on the Western Slope this summer.

Mesa County Health Department spokeswoman Kristy Westerman says the man contracted the least severe form of the virus, known as West Nile fever.

He was not hospitalized.

County health director Michael Aduddell says the West Nile season is off to a slow start, but populations of Culex mosquitoes -- which carry the virus -- are higher than they have been in previous years.

The latest case marks the 16th confirmed case of West Nile in Colorado this year.

Colorado had 576 cases of West Nile last year, including seven deaths.

The state's worst year was 2003, when 63 people died of West Nile and nearly 3,000 became ill.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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