Aerial Spraying Set To Start In Denton County
LEWISVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) - The number of human West Nile virus cases in Texas has doubled to nearly 900 in only two weeks, and a man in Rowlett died this week to bring the total number of deaths this season to 21 in the DFW area. With those tragic statistics in mind, Denton County will start aerial spraying on Thursday night for mosquitos carrying the virus.
The decision to conduct aerial spraying came after cases spiked across southern parts of Denton County, and health officials declared an emergency. Portions of Dallas County were sprayed by air a couple weeks ago, and the move seems to be working.
Denton County has about 30 cities participating in Thursday night's spraying, including Lewisville. Dallas, Carrollton and Coppell opted into Dallas County's aerial spraying and will not be part of the Denton County effort. Denton, Frisco and The Colony have all opted out of aerial spraying. They will be passed over during the air attack. Click here for a full list of participating cities.
The initiative is set to start at 9:00 p.m. and continue through 2:00 a.m. for Thursday and Friday nights, weather permitting.
While much of the nation is battling the West Nile virus -- 43 of the 50 states have reported instances of the illness -- nowhere is worse than here in Texas. About 56 percent of all U.S. cases have been found in this state. Still, the chance of someone getting the virus is relatively small. With almost 900 cases reported, given the Texas population, there is just a one in 28,600 chance that a mosquito bite will pass the illness to an individual.
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