The City of Irving is spraying for mosquitoes in Las Colinas even though no mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile virus.
City workers are spraying for the first time this year and will target the neighborhood along Rochelle Boulevard by Northgate Drive.
"It's critical that we get to that area as quickly as possible to spray, to eliminate the threat of the mosquito if they have the virus or just the sheer numbers of mosquitoes," said vector control technician Thomas Dickens.
Dickens said they're taking proactive measures after a recent trapping.
"We're seeing different types of mosquitoes, not just the one kind that we know carries West Nile," Dickens said.
The area that will be sprayed includes a park, which has a series of mosquito-attracting ponds.
Vector control workers trapped a total of more than 100 female mosquitoes earlier this week.
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City workers said none of those mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile, but still they can never be too safe.
"We've increased the number of traps that we've put out this year. We've tightened up our radius in an effort to a more accurate account of the mosquito population here in Irving," said Joseph Moses, assistant director of Parks and Recreation.
Once trapped, the mosquito samples are brought to an in-house lab, where they're tested using a high-tech machine.
"We've purchased the machine last year, and so far we've tested 100 samples for West Nile, and so far we've only had one positive come up," Dickens said.
They said the city is in the clear for West Nile so far this year, and they hope that's a trend that will last through the coming months.
"Just like our efforts here with the Fight the Bite campaign, education is the number one defense. We want to make sure our citizens know how to protect themselves," said Moses.
