LEXINGTON — Kentucky authorities will screen again this year for the potentially fatal West Nile virus, for the second year; and some believe this could be the year it arrives in the Bluegrass, at least in birds.

        The virus is moving westward from New York state, where it surfaced in 1999. Health personnel are gearing up to screen mosquitoes and birds for viral signs.

        Health officials are concerned that the virus could be carried to Kentucky by migrating birds.

        Mosquitoes that bite the infected birds then potentially could spread the virus to humans.

        The West Nile virus causes a form of encephalitis, a brain inflammation that killed seven people out of about 2,000 that were infected through mosquito bites when the disease appeared in New York two years ago.

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