In the months leading up to this year's West Nile virus epidemic, Dallas and Dallas County did not have the people, money or resources to fight the virus like cities with the most aggressive plans do, an NBC 5 investigation has found.
As of Sept. 5, Dallas County has 335 human cases of West Nile virus and 13 fatalities. There are more than 800 human cases and 23 deaths in all of North Texas.
Dallas County records obtained by the NBC 5 Investigates team show that the county health department knew on June 10 that 16 percent of trapped mosquito pools were already testing positive for West Nile virus.
Two weeks later, that number jumped to 28 percent. And by July 1, the numbers exploded -- 44 percent of the mosquito pools collected tested positive for West Nile virus.
Dr. Bill Reisen, who runs a West Nile virus-testing program at the University of California, Davis, one of the country's most respected programs, said he would have been alarmed to see the numbers Dallas County was looking at during the end of June and early July -- weeks before hundreds of people were sickened and weeks before county started talking about aerial spraying for mosquitoes.
