Given that Nevada County is currently only armed with a few chickens to alert the county to the impending arrival of West Nile Virus this summer, officials are asking for money for a better early warning system.

Currently, the county spends $40,000 on its prevention efforts, which includes a "couple of sentinel chickens" whose blood is tested regularly during mosquito season for the presence of the virus, explained Environmental Health Director Larry Sage to the county’s supervisors Tuesday.

The county’s health and environmental officials are hoping to step up these efforts to avoid what is predicted to be the worst year yet for the county. Last year, there was one case in Nevada County, and several others throughout northern California. Southern California was hit especially hard, with more than 300 positive human cases and 10 fatalities.

Since the virus appears to be spreading north and does not have a vaccination, officials have found that the best prevention is to kill the carriers — mosquitos. Sage explained how in southern California, there were early predictions that ran into the thousands, but the formation of districts and other preventative measures kept the numbers down.

For more on this story, read tomorrow's The Union.