Federal health officials have come up with six strategies to battle the potentially fatal West Nile virus this summer, as they acknowledge that the illness will likely spread to all areas of the country this summer.

"We really have to be ready for West Nile virus to recur in areas we saw it and for the possibility that it's going to expand,'' Health Canada's Dr. Harvey Artsob told reporters Wednesday.

"We could start to see in human cases in some areas where we hadn't seen it before but where we had activity (in birds) last year, such as Manitoba or Saskatchewan.''

Health Canada is hoping to prevent the spread of the virus with the following six-point plan:

• Canada-wide surveillance for the virus
• Keeping Canada's blood system safe from the virus
• Improved testing for West Nile
• Safe and effective pesticides and insect repellents
• Keeping Canadians informed about new findings on the virus
• Working in collaboration with First Nations communities on reserves

Last year, the West Nile virus moved rapidly across North America after originating on the East Coast. The virus first appeared in mosquitoes and was transmitted to crows before human infections were reported.

This year, Health Canada officials promise that a test for the virus in blood product should be ready by the summer. Artsob says a private company is developing the test with the aim of having it completed by July.

He also said the Canada's national laboratory in Winnipeg is actively supporting efforts to provide faster test results this year. Doctors could soon be getting test results within days rather than the weeks or months it took last summer.

"The facility is providing testing technology, and training to the provinces, so they can conduct their own front-line test to diagnose cases.

"So far, laboratories in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have been properly equipped and trained so they can conduct their own testing," Artsob said.

As a safeguard, blood agencies are also building up their stockpiles before summer, when the West Nile season begins.

"Health Canada has been meeting on a regular basis with Canadian blood services to monitor contingency planning. This includes stockpiling blood and blood components before this year's mosquito season," Artsob said.

Health Canada officials continue to stress the risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito is low. And it says that most people who become infected with West Nile experience no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms.

A small percentage who contract the potential deadly virus will experience serious symptoms such as meningitis, which is an inflammation of the brain lining.

Provincial and municipal governments have also developed programs to combat West Nile. Toronto recently approved a plan to drop thousands of larvicide pellets in storm sewers where mosquitoes are known to breed.

The pellet program will be launched in late June and again in late July when mosquito reproduction reaches its peak. Health officials chose methoprene pellets with the view that it is one of the least toxic insecticides.

In British Columbia, dozens of mosquito traps will be set up over the summer to detect mosquitos infected with West Nile virus. A raven and crow tested positive for the virus in nearby Washington state last summer.

The virus is being made a reportable illness in both Ontario and B.C. That means doctors will be required by law to report all probable and confirmed cases to the local medical health authority.

Ontario has been especially hard hit. The province has confirmed 307 cases of West Nile infection. At least one person has died as a direct result of the West Nile virus, which is also suspected of causing or contributing to 16 other deaths.