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Texas In the Midst of Growing West Nile Virus Emergency

Posted byHoumanitarian
Full interactive data and state map available at Texas Tribune

(B. Aaronson & E. Ramshaw, Texas Tribune)
State officials are reporting more than 380 human cases of the West Nile virus in Texas so far this year — and no region has been harder hit than North Texas, which has already reported a dozen deaths. Here’s an interactive look at reported West Nile cases and deaths by county, using data provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The number of reported West Nile cases is far higher this year than each of the last five years, and the outbreak has been highly concentrated in North Texas, particularly in Dallas and Tarrant counties.

Statewide, there have been 17 deaths from the mosquito-borne illness this year. In Dallas County alone, where officials have declared an emergency, there have been at least 128 reported cases of the disease and 10 deaths, according to state figures (county figures put the reported cases even higher). In Tarrant County, there have been at least 110 reported cases and a single death, while both Denton and Collin counties have reported dozens of cases combined. (More at Texas Tribune)

Skeeters Attack With Vengeance in the Katy Area
(Karen Hastings, Houston Chronicle)
Harris County health officials are reporting troubling signs of what could be a record year for mosquito-borne West Nile Virus, and the Katy area is right in the middle of it.

A Katy area ZIP code – 77094, which includes part of George Bush Park and Barker Reservoir – was one of the first places in Harris County where mosquitoes bearing the West Nile Virus were reported in June by Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services.

Another Katy ZIP code – 77493, which includes part of the city of Katy – was one of the first two in Harris County to report what officials now say is a disturbing jump in dead birds linked to the potentially deadly virus.

An elderly southwest Houston man died of the disease in July, city health officials said. So far, Houston and unincorporated Harris County have reported six human cases of West Nile. (Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle)

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