Residents Not Alerted About Neighbors With West Nile

EL PASO, TX – Residents living in the same neighborhood with persons infected with West Nile Virus were never alerted by authorities about the matter.

So far this summer, West Nile Virus had killed one person in El Paso and another in Dona Ana County, while infecting many others.

Employees with the City-County Health District tell ABC-7 they simply can’t disclose neighborhood-specific statistics regarding the virus. It is up to the persons who contracted the disease to disclose the information, they said.

Officials with Vector Control, the department in charge of monitoring West Nile cases in the city, also stated they are prohibited from giving out information about specific cases. Employees are not allowed to alert residents that a neighbor has been infected with the virus, they added.

Currently, Vector Control only notifies the general public about zip codes in which residents or mosquitos with the virus reside. The major reason they do not notify residents specifically is because persons with the disease could have contracted the disease in an area outside their residential neighborhood.

Enrique Leyva, a Vector Control Supervisor, said his agency investigates the most recent activity of an infected person. They are questioned about where they have been in recent weeks or where they work, he said. “Sometimes, that is where you can find the problem because it is not always at home.”

El Paso County and Dona Ana County lead Texas and New Mexico in the number of Human West Nile cases this year.