An adult in the Baltimore region is the first Marylander to test positive for West Nile virus in 2024, according to the state health department.

“We are in the season when the West Nile virus can spread in Maryland,” Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman said in a news release Monday. “We urge people to be vigilant and take steps to avoid infection and eliminate standing pools of water where mosquitoes can breed.”

Last year the state recorded seven cases of the virus, which is transmitted from birds to mosquitoes and then to humans, the department said. In 2023, the state’s first confirmed human case of West Nile virus came in mid-September and was an adult living on the Eastern Shore.

The disease affects the nervous system. Up to 80% of people who are infected will not display any signs, and people older than 50 or with underlying health conditions can become seriously ill, the department said.

In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control recorded over 2,500 cases of the virus across the country. So far this year, it has counted 216.

Symptoms include fever, headache and body aches as well as a skin rash and swollen lymph glands, according to the department.

Over the weekend Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said through a spokesperson that he was hospitalized with the virus, likely from a mosquito bite in his backyard, according to the Associated Press.