Louisiana had an unusually early case of West Nile virus this year. Louisiana is one of nine states that have so far reported the disease this year, and the case was one of only 13 in the country as of June 13, according to the CDC. The state had a total of 49 cases in 2022. West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes to humans and animals and can cause severe illness or death, though only about 20% of people infected actually experience symptoms, according to LDH. In extremely rare instances, infections are spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants or breastfeeding. A mosquito gets infected by biting a bird infected with West Nile. Mosquitoes do not transmit the virus between people, so an uninfected mosquito cannot bite a human with the virus and become infected.