West Nile Hits Hard Around Dallas, With Fear of Its Spread

Image: The mosquito-borne disease has set off aerial spraying of pesticides, but an online petition has drawn 1,700 signatures asking that it be stopped. (Reuters)

nytimes.com - August 16th, 2012 - Manny Fernandez and Donald G. McNeil Jr.

An outbreak of West Nile virus has engulfed Dallas County, with nearly 200 cases of human infection and 10 deaths, leading the mayor of Dallas to declare a state of emergency and to authorize the first aerial spraying of a pesticide in the city since 1966.

The high number of infections and deaths from the mosquito-borne disease marks the nation’s worst outbreak of West Nile in a year that has already logged a record number of cases across the country. The virus has become endemic in the United States since the first outbreak in 1999.

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