First West Nile Death Reported In Tarrant County
TARRANT COUNTY (CBS 11 NEWS)- A Euless woman became the first person in Tarrant County to die this year after contracting West Nile Virus. It's the sixth death in North Texas this summer and the first in Tarrant County since 2009.
The woman was in her 60's and had underlying medical conditions according to the Tarrant County Public Health. It brought the number of cases in Tarrant County to 67. That's the highest total since there were 53 cases and 7 deaths in 2006.
"I do think they will continue to increase," said county medical director Dr. Sandra Parker. "But we do want to stress those prevention measures because they do work."
Tarrant has relied on prevention measures rather than spraying for mosquitoes. Euless is one of the few cities in Tarrant that has chosen to spray and was spraying across a large portion of the city Tuesday. It covers the entire city rather than just small sections like some municipalities do. The city manager told CBS11 he expected to continue spraying as long as its needed.
Despite the death in Euless, prevention measures are still not something everyone is practicing even if they're aware of it.
John Gonzalez, who lives in Euless, said he hasn't noticed a particularly bad mosquito problem.
"I'm aware of it, but you're right, not too concerned about it," he said at a park Tuesday. "Probably should be."
Likewise Darla McLaughlin said she hasn't done anything different when taking her two-year-old son Tristan outside, though they're not out that much in summer due to the heat.
"This is probably the first time in a couple weeks that we've actually been out," she said.
Euless has neighborhoods with heavy tree cover and natural creeks, which Parker said is a topography more common in Dallas County, and one mosquitoes find more inviting. That difference is one possible reason she said Tarrant has had fewer cases than Dallas County so far this season.
"It changes to less trees to more of a grassy prairie type terrain and the mosquitoes don't like that as much," she said.
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