HOUSTON (FOX 26) -
West Nile virus has claimed the life of another Houston resident; that makes three confirmed deaths of the 13 reported cases in the Houston area and given the results from recent mosquito sampling, Harris County officials are calling for reinforcements.
By early Wednesday morning, choppers carrying pesticides will launch.
Dr. Rudy Bueno from Harris County Mosquito Control says the department will be targeting specific areas in the west and northwest part of Houston.
"The most notable things are the numbers of birds that we've found dead of west Nile
and that hasn't happened since 2005- 2006," says Dr. Bueno.
These numbers are a result of sampling that was done during the early months of the year, but given the outbreak in Dallas and latest death, officials are moving quickly.
Not many details are known about the victim, but FOX 26 News can report that the
man was between the ages of 55 and 74 and before that, another man and woman in the same age group died of the virus.
"A lot of people don't feel any symptoms and that may be because they're stronger, but again twenty percent of cases people do feel mild symptoms," says Porfirio Villarreal, public information officer with the Houston Department of Health and Human Services.
Villarreal also mentioned that is why the HDHHS is constantly reminding the elderly to be on guard, use insect repellent, and keep screens clean at home in an effort to keep pesky insects away.
This will obviously supplement the county efforts to spraying mosquito insecticide both on the ground and soon by air in those "hot spots" or West Nile Virus zones.
"We're able to find the virus in mosquitos and birds and it helps us to short circuit the virus before it gets to the people," said Dr. Bueno.
The southwest Houston resident who was identified as the third reported death from West Nile Virus in Houston represented the 13th reported case of West Nile Virus in Houston on Aug. 17.
A northeast Houston resident, identified as a woman between the age of 55 and 74 years old, was the first fatal case of West Nile Virus in Houston. HDHHS learned she contracted the virus on June 27.
An elderly southwest Houston resident died after HDHHS learned on Aug. 1 that he contracted West Nile Virus. The man, between the age of 75 and 84 years old, was the second reported death from the virus in Houston before Tuesday.
No one younger than 35 years of age or older than 84 years old has contracted the virus in Houston.
Of the 586 residents in 52 Texas counties who contracted the virus in 2012, 21 people have died from the virus as of Tuesday, based on the Texas Department of State Health Services website.
