CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
The City has announced more positive test results for West Nile virus in the 400 block of Bartlett Drive and the 7400 block of Whisper Wind Drive.
The test results were from Aug. 28, and on Tuesday night, both neighborhoods were sprayed by the City for mosquitoes; but it is the seventh positive test at the Bartlett Drive location, and officials are asking the public for help.
Most everyone in the neighborhood says they are keeping their grass cut and making sure they don't have any standing water, but City officials believe someone there has to have some standing water, and it is allowing the mosquitoes to breed.
The mosquitoes get the West Nile virus from infected birds. That is why Ruperto Herrera has his bird bath in front of his home on Bartlett Drive completely cleaned out.
Other neighbors along Bartlett also have emptied their bird baths, but it hasn't worked. The mosquito trap along Bartlett continues to come up positive for the virus. Since early July, the street has been sprayed by City Vector Control, and it hasn't worked.
"The only thing I can say is that I'm trying to keep myself safe," Herrera said. "That's about it, you know. I mean, I can't understand why."
"We'll continue to look over there, like I said, to see if we can identify the source," said Commander Todd Green of the Corpus Christi Police Department. "Obviously there's some standing water over there that's allowing them to breed, and if we can identify that, we will attack it with a larvicide that will kill the larvae before they become adult mosquitoes."
The City is looking at the possibility of beefing up Vector Control's spraying efforts by cross-training Animal Control officers to help do the job. Also, the Health Department has been out driving through the area to see where the mosquitoes may be coming from, but their effort did not pay off.
So if you live in and around the Bartlett Street area, you might want to check for leaks around your house or other standing water, because when that source is found, the City believes the positive tests there will stop.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there have been 1,040 positive human cases of West Nile virus in Texas, and the number of deaths stands at 43. One death has been reported in Nueces County.
