Earlier this week, health officials reported that there are now 1,590 cases of West Nile virus confirmed in humans across the United States, and 66 deaths -- the most (through late August) since the mosquito-borne disease was first identified in 1999, Reuters reported.
This year's unseasonably warm winter is at least partly to blame for this "alarming" jump in West Nile cases, according to the AP, since the lack of freezing temperatures meant mosquitoes could breed all winter.
So far, Texas is taking the brunt of it -- and it may only get worse. "It looks like it is going to be our worst year ever," Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services told Reuters. "As I look at the data, I'm not convinced we have peaked."
This year's unseasonably warm winter is at least partly to blame for this "alarming" jump in West Nile cases, according to the AP, since the lack of freezing temperatures meant mosquitoes could breed all winter.
So far, Texas is taking the brunt of it -- and it may only get worse. "It looks like it is going to be our worst year ever," Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services told Reuters. "As I look at the data, I'm not convinced we have peaked."
