Mosquitoes also were reported to have tested positive for West Nile in Mesquite, Frisco and Dallas counties in Texas.
WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) — A patient in Harris County, Texas, has been confirmed to have the West Nile neuroinvasive diesease, the first case of the mosquito-borne virus found in 2015.
Mosquitoes also were reported to have tested positive for West Nile in Mesquite, Frisco and Dallas counties, according to KXAS-TV.
People who contract the illness often experience headache, fever, muscle and joint aches, nausea and fatigue. There are no medications to treat West Nile, leaving insect repellent and draining standing water as the best options to avoid getting the virus.
Up to 80 percent of people who contract the virus don’t get symptoms and won’t even know they have it, said Dr. Tom Sidwa, state public health veterinarian and manager of DSHS’s zoonosis control branch, in a press release. But those who do get sick can experience very serious effects ranging from fever to substantial neurological symptoms and even death.
The patient in Harris County contracted the more serious form of the illness, which affects less than 1 percent of humans who experience it. In addition to symptoms of the West Nile virus, those who have the neuroinvasive disease are at risk for neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and paralysis.
