West Nile makes first appearance

Submitted by Canton1 on
By David Kapitan Staff Writer

County residents enjoyed a relatively uneventful year in 2016, dodging the brunt of most new and emerging illnesses that have made waves across much of the county in previous years. A case of West Nile Virus, among the most notorious of these illnesses, was not confirmed in Van Zandt County until a Sept. 17, 2016 report by the Texas Department of State Health Services last year.

Hopes that the county might best that outcome this year with no reported cases officially came to a close July 11 with the DSHS publishing a report confirming someone had tested positive for having the West Nile Virus. The local case is among eight confirmed cases statewide through the week ending July 7.

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