Vector control workers in Robstown and Kingsville have detected the St. Louis Encephalitis virus in mosquito pools.
This information comes a week after Corpus Christi workers also found the virus in a second pool last week.
The good news is that zero Coastal Bend residents have been infected with this virus. However, virus-positive mosquito pools were found in the San Pedro neighborhood in Robstown, which is where Alejandro Cedillo lives.
“The mosquitoes are bad out here,” Cedillo said. “I know Robstown tries its best to keep them away with the spray, but it’s not enough.”
Residents such as Cedillo now are encouraged to take precautions to avoid getting this form of encephalitis. Those include: avoid being outside when mosquitoes are most active (at dusk and dawn), wearing mosquito repellent, wearing long sleeves outside, and drain standing water that mosquitoes breed in.
“As individuals we need to do our part and take the necessary precautions,” said local pulmonologist Dr. Humayun Anjum.
Anjum said if a person does get St. Louis encephalitis, most likely they will not show any symptoms. If a case gets severe, a person may experience symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting and tiredness.
Meanwhile Cedillo said he has an itch for the neighborhood mosquitoes to go away.
“We use mosquito repellent," Cedillo said. "We have been staying inside, and we’ve been keeping our German Shepards inside as well."
Kingsville Vector Control crews said it will begin spraying impacted areas Friday, and will spray for the next three days.
Robstown Vector Control said it will spray in the impacted neighborhoods every night until there are no more virus-positive mosquito pools.
