The breakdown
According to an Oct. 4 city news release, the positives came from mosquito pools located:
- In the area of Wendover Drive
- At Oakbrook Park, the fourth positive for the area
In response to the positives, third-party contractors were scheduled to spray an adulticide, which is a mosquito-specific insecticide, around the identified pools. The spraying is typically restricted to a one-mile radius around where the positive mosquitos came from, according to Frisco’s Mosquito Surveillance and Response Plan.
Sorting out details
Pool positives are not the same as human positives for West Nile virus. Mosquito pools, which are groups of typically no more than 50 mosquitos, are collected and tested by city, county and state health officials during the May-November mosquito season.
Results from the city’s pool testing are uploaded to Frisco’s mosquito surveillance map, a public database that has recorded all West Nile positives and spraying areas since 2018.
There have been no confirmed positive human cases in Frisco reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to the release.
There are also some presumptive viremic blood donor positives, which comes from donated blood that later tested positive for West Nile virus while the person donating felt no symptoms, in both Collin and Denton county but those do not count toward the total number of positives unless they meet other reporting criteria, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services’ website.
Going forward
The Texas Department of State Health Services recommends residents take precaution against mosquitos with the following steps:
- Wear long sleeves and pants outside at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.
- Use insect repellants if outside. Approved repellents contain DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
- Drain standing water that collects in bird baths, French drains, clogged gutters, saucers under potted plants and splash blocks. The mosquitoes that carry the virus can breed in as little as 1-2 teaspoons of standing water, according to the Denton County Public Health website.
More information on how to prevent mosquito bites and breeding can be found at www.friscotexas.gov/222/Mosquitoes or by contacting the city’s Health and Food Safety Division at 972-292-5304.
