BELL COUNTY, Texas — A person in Bell County has tested positive for West Nile Virus.
As of Thursday, they are the first and only human case of the virus reported this season for Bell County, but health experts say the virus is active.
A new federal grant has allowed the Bell County Health Department to collect and test mosquitoes in the area for viruses.
"We have had sixteen what they call positive pools," District Director Amy Yeager said. "Each time you do a collection, that's considered a pool. We've had six pools test positive and multiple pools in each community."
The positive pools were recorded in Temple, Harker Heights, Belton and Killeen.
With so many testing positive all across the county, Yeager said they hope to keep this program up and running.
"If we hadn't gotten anything, that would've given us a different conclusion," she said. "But we've had the sixteen positive pools and now one positive human case so far so that tells us we're on the right track."
While mosquitoes are testing positive, health experts tell 25 News people don't need to panic.
80% of people who get West Nile Virus have no or very mild symptoms. Only about 1% of those infected get seriously ill.
"It's in very rare cases that it does change into what we call an encephalitis or a meningitis where it starts inflaming the brain where people are hospitalized or get seriously ill after that," said Dr. David Cummings with AdventHealth.
"We don't want the public to be scared," Yeager added. "It's more a matter of getting preventative steps out to them, things that people can do to help take precautions."
The best ways to protect yourself is to remember the three D's - defend, dress and drain. You can defend yourself by using repellent, dress in long loose clothing when outdoors, and drain any standing water around your house.
