Bell County Public Health District are telling residents not to be alarmed Thursday as they are conducting routine mosquito surveillance in several community.
This comes almost a week after officials confirmed its first Zika case involving a man who was infected outside of the United States.
The health district is asking for residents if they find a mosquito trap in their community to leave it undisturbed, according to a press release.
According to a press release, the surveillance is a way to identify mosquito populations that are capable of transmitting diseases like Chikungunya, Dengue, West Nile and Zika Virus. It is also how health officials sample local mosquito populations to determine the likelihood of disease among area mosquitoes.
BCPHD has a plan to protect the public health aligned with the State of Texas plan and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s approach which is sectioned into three phases.
Phase I: Identifies mainly preventive strategies and activities that BCPHD will implement prior to any local transmission of Zika virus by local mosquitoes.
Mosquito borne illnesses such as Zika not present in the mosquito population. If the current status remains the same, the Health District will focus on public health education, mosquito bite prevention, and habitat prevention and surveillance activities.
Phase II: Identifies activities that BCPHD will implement once a potential or confirmed case of local mosquito transmission has been confirmed.
There has been no local transmission in Bell County or anywhere in the United States.
More aggressive sampling will be conducted during this phase.
Phase III: Identifies activities that BCPHD will implement once sustained local transmission has been confirmed.
Learn more about Zika here.
