CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire’s West Nile virus season has ended, but questions about where it will strike next, and how severely, remain.

“We had an important season,” said state Epidemiologist Dr. Jesse Greenblatt.

The virus was detected in more birds and mosquitos, and for the first time since the illness began spreading in the United States four years ago, it struck people in the state.

Two residents probably contracted the illness while traveling out of state, but one, a 42-year-old Laconia-area man, probably was bitten by an infected mosquito close to home.

He is doing well, but Greenblatt said he probably won’t be the final victim.

“We believe the West Nile Virus is here to stay,” Greenblatt said Friday. “It exists border-to-border, but thankfully, we are probably going to be spared, if trends continue, from the worst of the disease as other states in the West or Midwest are experiencing these days,” he said.

Experts don’t know what determined the virus’ path across the country, but they are researching it and other illnesses caused by human contact with animals.

“If you look at most of the diseases that are actually on people’s minds, they are from animals,” Greenblatt said.

He listed rabies; SARS, the deadly respiratory illness first noticed in China a year ago; West Nile virus; and Lyme disease.

“We are monitoring mosquitos in a way we never have,” Greenblatt said, and doing experiments on ticks to learn more about Lyme disease.

“And we’re looking at a relationship, potentially with our universities and their zoology departments, to get their students working for us in that area,” he said.

West Nile is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird or other animal.

New Hampshire identified 213 birds, one horse and six mosquito ponds as testing positive for the virus this year.

The illness first arrived in New York in 1999, but by his year, it spread to 45 states. Nationwide it caused 7,700 people to become ill this year.

AP-ES-11-22-03 1822EST