Dallas has declared a health emergency and they are scrambling to find a way to combat the effing mosquitoes. They've been spraying via trucks but it isn't helping, and now they are talking about using airplanes to crop dust the city with mosquito killer. Hundreds of people have the disease and 9 or 10 people have died, so far (in Dallas.... no idea about Houston and San Antonio).


on edit: http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120809-dallas-county-declares-west-nile-state-of-emergency.ece

He praised Jenkins for making the declaration, which he expects will make it easier for the county to get trucks, pesticides and other resources from the state.

“This means a lot for Dallas County residents,” he said. “It really enhances our effort to be able to get into more areas faster. The more resources we have on the ground, the more we’re able to address this West Nile virus epidemic.”

August is often a bad month for West Nile, and Thompson has said the number of victims will continue to grow.

The number of reported cases in Tarrant County has jumped from 110 to 133 since Monday, while Denton County’s number is up from 59 to 66 and Collin’s has risen from 11 to 16.

She has west nile.

She is being treated with anti-virals. I am very concerned. She lives in Wylie a suburb of dallas.

Hopefully,she has a good Infectious Disease doc following her.I'm afraid I'll be seeing a few in a couple of weeks.keep he hydrated,baby.I'll keep her in my prayers.PM me your address-I'll mail you some prayer beads.

treated. All I know is that she was quite sick and was diagnosed. My Uncle had to fill out the long CDC form because she was too weak to do so.

There goes my organic garden.

The mosquito fish should be added to all standing waters and then folks need to empty all old cans and tires, etc. The mosquito fish loves to eat the larvae and they won't poison everyone. Poisson not poison.

nice try though

I'm posting this just to make sure our northern brethren don't get the wrong impression from this post. It's reaches as far north as Minnesota.

The Dallas region is only having these high rates due to their high rain totals this year. They're one of the few areas in the Texas not currently in a drought. Global warming, and the subsequent droughts, have actually reduce Texas' chances of heavy West Nile outbreaks in recent years.

Everyone should still be vigilant to control mosquito populations around their homes, and stay indoors if possible at dawn and dusk.

We're all in this together. I don't want to see anyone get sick from this because they thought it was just a southern affliction.

I think I read that west nile virus was in 40+ states.... I don't remember, but it can happen anywhere, and you are very correct to warn people.

It is a temperate, as well as tropical climate disease. I read today Maryland had their first human case. Which I should have put in my post, but forgot.

It's even a problem in Russia. The spread of the disease is truly global.

I didn't want people to get the wrong impression is all. If you have mosquitoes you're susceptible to the virus. It has spread world wide.

I do thank you for your kind words. I almost didn't say anything for fear of my words being taken as defensive.

especially the part about being defensive. So much Texas love here.

It really is alarming. I was house/dog sitting at a house in one of the hot spot zip codes this last week and was really really paranoid about the virus. Every time I went there I was savaged by a cloud of mosquitoes just going from my car in the driveway to the door. (Yes I wore jeans and long sleeves etc... so much fun when it is also 107 degrees ugh)

Tipping point is here.

I hate climate change deniers as deeply as I love my kids.

It was a strange and brutal illness. I had done some extra heavy work around the house, and at first thought I was just having some soreness from the work. Even when I started running a fever, I thought it still might have been from the work. Then it turned into a severe headache, and a fatigue started to develop that was worse than any I'd had associated with a winter flu. The headache evolved into a pressure in two distinct spots at the top and side of my head, which became a duller pain, but accompanied by a constant buzzing. The fatigue was extreme. I could go to sleep at any time I chose, and make it quick by simply concentrating on the buzzing in my head. My fever was constant, and often spiked up to 104, with 101 feeling like relief. (It was a week or more of this that finally got me to go to the doctor). Thankfully, there were absolutly no gastro-intestinal or respiratory symptoms. I actually had a good appetite during this sickness, and, in fact, had a strange craving for red meat. One of the oddest things about it: I gained a couple pounds during the course of the illness! Because of the fever I took aspirin constantly. I also drank huge amounts of water and Gatorade. I craved Gatorade, which is odd because I probably hadn't had any in 25 years, and I haven't had any since. When I finally went to the doctor, he asked what I'd been doing for the illness, and I told him I was taking aspirin. The night before I went to the doctor, the fever had broken. Telling him that, he said, just keep taking asprin; and didn't really do anything else for me except to say that if it got worse, he probably screwed up. It actually did get worse on the next weekend, with the final symptom of spotted rash coming and going, but then it gradually started to get better. It was several weeks before I was 100%. The buzzing in my head took a long time to go away. I only took one
full day off of work, but also could only go in for a few hours each day before I got too tired.


Interesting side note related to the buzzing in my head. Towards the time when I started to feel a little better, I sat down to play the piano. The piano sounded horribly out of tune. I suspected it had something to do with the sickness. I did a little experiment; a musician will know what I'm talking about. A piano IS out of tune, but it is the tuning that we accept, called equal tempered tuning. All octaves on a piano are in tune, but all fifths are out of tune. (When compared with the natural fifth (10th) of an overtone).
Knowing this, I played a fundamental note - the C below middle c - and let it ring, concentrating on hearing the natural harmonic g above middle c. Then I played the g above middle c, and, swear to God it sounded so flat you wouldn't believe it. This effect lasted several weeks.