The Douglas County Health Department says the "Jamestown Canyon" virus is confirmed for the first time in Nebraska.
The department says samples from a mosquito pool collected at Cunningham Lake June 25th were found to have the virus in testing at a state lab..
The virus first showed up in Colorado in 1961 and is usually transmitted to humans through the bites of mosquitoes that have bitten infected white-tailed deer.
The health department says humans are considered “dead-end” hosts and cannot spread the virus to mosquitoes that bite them, and it is not transmitted person-to-person.
They say "JVC" is part of the California serogroup of viruses, including California Encephalitis and the La Cross viruses.
There are no confirmed human cases this year in the United States.
While rare, JVC can cause a range of symptoms, from a flu-like illness with fever to severe neurologic conditions such as meningitis or meningoencephalitis.
County health says the incubation period is typically 2-14 days after a mosquito bite.
About half of all cases require hospitalization, but deaths are rare.
Since there is no cure, treatment consists of treating symptoms until recovery.
(Picture from Getty Images)