Rain could make West Nile worse this year

AUGUSTA - Health officials say plentiful rainfall this year could provide more breeding grounds for mosquitos and facilitate the spread of West Nile virus. <br> <br> Mosquitoes, which carry and spread West Nile, use pools and puddles of standing water to reproduce. <br> <br> State health officials say it is difficult to predict whether this season&#39;s virus activity will be greater than last year. In 2002, Georgia had 43 human cases of the virus and seven deaths from it. <br> <br> The first bird case of the West Nile virus this year was confirmed last week, months earlier than last year&#39;s initial activity.

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