Denton County Confirms First West Nile Case of 2012

West Nile case is first in Denton County in 2 years

The Denton County Health Department confirmed their first case of West Nile virus for 2012 Thursday.

The infected person lives in the southern portion of unincorporated Denton County.  Due to patient confidentiality, no further information will be revealed about the patient.

Denton County has not had any cases of West Nile in the past two years.

“This report is a little earlier than we normally see West Nile virus in Denton County”, said Juan Rodriguez, DCHD chief epidemiologist, who went on to say that “single reports of early onset of human illness do not necessarily indicate that an unusually heavy West Nile virus season is ahead of us.”

All North Texas residents can minimize their risk of exposure to West Nile virus by remembering the four D's: drain, dress, DEET and dusk/dawn.

Drain standing water to removing mosquito hatching grounds
Dress in pants and long sleeves when near mosquito-infested areas
Apply an insect repellant that uses DEET.
Stay indoors at dusk and dawn, when mosquitos are most active.

Rodriguez stressed in a news release that not every mosquito carries West Nile and, even in those that do carry the virus, less than 1 percen of those bites results in a human becoming seriously ill.

More information is available on the Denton County Health Department West Nile virus website at http://www.dentoncounty.com/heart/WNVMCG/index.htm.

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