JERUSALEM, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Israel reported Thursday a new death of West Nile fever, raising the total fatalities in the country's ongoing outbreak to 19.
The Israeli health ministry also reported 25 new infections, bringing the tallies to 356 since the beginning of May.
Mosquitoes in the coastal city of Tel Aviv and the nearby cities of Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, and Ramla had been carrying the virus, Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection announced a day earlier.
Following the detection, the ministry instructed the four municipalities to expand the monitoring and extermination system.
Also on Wednesday, Tamir Goshen, Director of Veterinary Services at the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, told the Ynet news website that in the last two months, 159 birds were found infected with the virus, many of them grey crows, a surge from three detected infections among birds last year.
The virus is transmitted to humans from birds by mosquito bites. Most human infections show no to mild cold symptoms, but occasionally, some people could develop severe illnesses affecting the central nervous system.
Goshen noted that some birds infected with the virus show neural signs while others die without any preliminary signs.
