TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) confirmed Saturday its first human case of West Nile virus (WNV) for the 2024 season.
TCPH officials said in a press release that the individual involved contracted the more serious neuroinvasive form of the disease. TCPH did not release any other details about the person "to protect the identity of the patient."
Symptoms for the neuroinvasive form of West Nile include neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and paralysis. This form of the disease can be deadly, TCPH says.
The mild form of the disease, which is more common, is referred to as West Nile fever. Symptoms for West Nile fever include headache, fever, muscle and joint aches, nausea and fatigue. People typically recover on their own, although symptoms may last for several weeks, according to TCPH.
Only about 20% of people infected with WNV will experience symptoms, and serious cases are rare, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TCPH said, to date, it has found a total of 169 WNV-positive mosquito pools within Tarrant County, which is monitored from April through mid-November.
During the 2023 season, TCPH reported 12 human cases of West Nile disease.
The first positive mosquito pool for the 2024 season in Tarrant County was reported in May 2024.
This week, WFAA spoke with a woman in Parker County who lost her husband to the West Nile virus back in June. They were married for 30 years. The man died in hospice care at his Springtown home on June 29.
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