Midland Health & Senior Services has confirmed five West Nile Virus cases in the area and is currently investigating two new cases.
Officials continue to ask residents take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, which is how the disease is transmitted.
The best way to avoid exposure to West Nile Virus is to practice the four D's:
• Use insect repellents that contain DEET
• Drain any standing water
• Dress in long, loose and light-colored clothing when outdoors;
• Stay inside when possible between dusk and dawn.
To report standing water or mosquito breeding, call Environmental Services at 432-681-7613.
Symptoms can range from none at all - which is the most common - to severe. Approximately 80 percent of people who are infected with West Nile Virus will not show any symptoms at all.
About one in 150 people infected with West Nile Virus develop severe illness. The severe symptoms can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle, weakness, vision loss, numbers and paralysis. These symptoms may last several weeks, and neurological effects may be permanent.
Up to 20 percent of people who become infected have symptoms such as fever, headache, and body aches, nausea, vomiting and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back. Symptoms can last for as short as a few days, though even healthy people have become sick for several weeks.