In its latest update, Dallas County Health and Human Services says it is monitoring 13 cases involving either pregnant mothers or infants for possible Zika infection.
"I'm not surprised at all," said Dr. Sheila Chhutani, of Gyn/Ob Associates and Texas Health Dallas. "I think it's just a matter of time before we see Zika possibly being transmitted here."
The U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry is a long-term tracking effort to better understand the impacts of the virus. In Texas, 221 pregnant women were being tracked for possible Zika exposure, all travel related. Fifteen of those women gave birth to infants with birth defects consistent with the Zika virus.
Last week Texas had its first case of local Zika transmission in the Rio Grande Valley. So far, the possible cases locally have been travel related.
"I think that the city of Dallas is doing its job in terms of trying to track mosquitoes," Chhutani said.
But it's not just a government issue.
"People don't see it as affecting them until it does," she said.
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"It just rained today. Let's make sure we don't have rain water sitting outside, making a home for mosquitoes to develop," Chhutani pointed out Wednesday evening. "It's not something we do once and we stop. It's an ongoing process. It's an ongoing threat, and it's going to continue."
