The federal Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention has confirmed nine cases of human West Nile virus in Washington. This list includes three people in Benton County and someone from the Whatcom County bitten by mosquitoes while camping in Benton County.

The first case was in Klickitat County which brings the total number to 10. Out of all the new confirmed cases, four people live in Yakima County and one in Grant County.

Not all these confirmed cases recall specifically being bitten by mosquitoes but all the residents of Eastern Washington live in areas with known West Nile-positive mosquito activity.

One of the confirmed patients was an old man aged 80 sickened in Yakima County, but all the other patients were females. One of them is a teenager. The ages of all the newly confirmed cases from Benton County could not be known.

“Summer is nearly over, but West Nile virus season is still going strong so people should not let their guard down,” said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky.