A man passed away after having contracted the West Nile virus, this being the second confirmed death in Orange County due to the disease, according to the Health Care Agency.

Howard Sutter, the Orange County Health Department spokesman, said the victim of the WNV was a Garden Grove man, aged 64, who died this month after being hospitalized. Further information about the victim, such as his identity or the date of his death, hadn’t been made public. "That's our policy as an agency," said spokeswoman Deanne Thompson.

Tests confirmed the presence of the virus in the man’s body, Thompson stated.

The first death caused by the West Nile virus in Orange County, a 72-year-old Buena Park woman, was reported on Monday. Also, the decease of an 80-year-old woman from New Hyde Park, which occurred Sunday, is suspected to have been caused by the same virus, the health department said in anticipation of additional test results to establish the cause of death.

Humans become infected with the West Nile virus when bitten by infected mosquitoes. The warm weather is favorable to spreading the virus in birds and mosquitoes. Prime time for the mosquitoes, the transmitters of the virus, is during the summer and into the warm fall months before hard frost, between dusk and dawn. Usually, the first big freeze corresponds to the end of the season of these insects.

As claimed by the health care officials, starting 2004, the risk of human infection in Southern California is the highest. No less than 710 people contracted the virus and 21 got killed from the mosquito-transmitted disease that year.

People have been warned to take adequate precautions in order to reduce the risk of mosquito bites. Eliminating standing water where the insects can breed, staying away from mosquito-infested areas, mending damaged window screens and doors, wearing trousers and long-sleeved shirts or applying mosquito repellant when leaving the house are several pieces of advice one must take into account, health officials say.

"The most important thing now is for individuals to take proactive measures on their own," Deanne Thompson stated. "Preventing mosquito bites is absolutely the No. 1 preventive measure.”

People with weaker immune systems, such as senior citizens, struggle more to combat the mosquito-transmitted disease, said Cynthia Brown, spokeswoman for the Nassau County Department of Health. "It's very, very difficult once you hit a certain age," she said. However, there has been reported a series of cases of infection involving individuals under the age of 50, the Health Care Agency said in a press statement.

The situation in Weld County, Colorado, is not very different to that of other parts of the U.S. “West Nile season in Weld County is peaking late this year," asserted Dr. Mark Wallace, executive director of the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment. "With the Labor Day weekend here, Weld County residents need to be aware that the risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito is high. Everyone needs to wear mosquito repellent when outside to protect against West Nile virus infection," he said.