West Nile virus found in Seekonk

A dead crow found in Seekonk last Thursday by the town's animal control officer has tested positive for the West Nile virus, town officials said last night.

Seekonk Town Administrator William Keegan said the crow was found on Fieldwood Avenue near Cole and Olney Streets and was sent to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in Boston.

Just hours after receiving the test results, town officials made arrangements with the Bristol

County Mosquito Control Office to begin roadside spraying within a one-mile radius of Cole and Olney Streets.

Peter Matonis, the chairman of the Seekonk Board of Health, said the spraying of the insecticide Resmethrin; combined with a mineral oil, was scheduled to begin at 4 a.m. today and continue for about two hours.

Matonis said a wider area -roughly within a two-mile radius of where the crow was found -will be sprayed tomorrow.