Two more city residents yesterday were reported to have contracted the West Nile virus – as local officials vowed to continue aggressive spraying of pesticides to combat the deadly infection.
The latest victims were identified as an 85-year-old Queens woman who lives in Richmond Hill and a 27-year-old woman from East Tremont in The Bronx.
Health officials also reported a second virus infection in Nassau County. The victim was identified as a 77-year-old Mineola man.
All three people were being treated at local hospitals, officials said.
News of the additional infections came as officials prepared to target with pesticides sections of Queens near the home of the first city resident who died from the disease this year.
Officials said they would spray in Queens today and in Brooklyn tomorrow.
On Sunday, a 73-year-old Jackson Heights man became the city’s first fatality after developing encephalitis – an inflammation of the brain caused by West Nile.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the local cases are particularly frustrating because “you really can’t predict” a pattern.
Adding to confusion and concern was the confirmation yesterday that an organ-transplant recipient in Atlanta died of the virus.
The victim was one of three people who received organs from the same Georgia donor and later went on to develop encephalitis.
Authorities said it is unclear how the Georgia donor may have contracted the virus.
But they said the link between her and other West Nile victims strengthens the idea that the virus – previously thought to only be transmitted by a mosquito bite – might also be passed through blood transfusions and other medical procedures involving blood.