West Nile Virus Epidemic in Texas: Zombie Virus for Mosquitos?

After nine people have died in Dallas County, Texas due to the West Nile Virus, public health officials have announced a health emergency. 

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins delcared a  a public health emergency, saying the spread of the West Nile virus has become epidemic in a statement issued Thursday night. Jenkins says county officials are doing all they can to fight the spread of the virus but need the public to do their part.

Dallas County health officials have reported 162 West Nile virus cases and nine West Nile deaths so far this year. Mosquitoes pick up the virus from birds they bite and then spread it to people.

According to the CDC, most infections in the United States occur between June and September, with a peak around mid-August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out a release urging people to take precautions against the mosquito borne illness.

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Roughly one out of every five people infected with West Nile will develop flu-like symptoms: fever, body aches, headache or vomiting. In rare instances, people will develop a neurological condition, such as inflammation of the brain or surrounding tissue, and in some cases even death. Most people, however, do not show any symptoms at all.

But what if this isn't a case of West Nile, and this is just a continuation of the impending Zombie Apocalypse and it's spreading into Texas? 

• Impending Zombie Apocalypse: Compelling Evidence

The Zombie Research Society’s resident Entomologist, Doug Pratt, has recently suggested a troubling scenario in the spread of the zombie infection.  Pratt notes that many blood-born illnesses are transferred by mosquitoes, and so too may zombieism.  Malaria, for example, is almost exclusively passed from one carrier to another in this manner. 

Pratt’s real concern, however, is the possibility that a newly infected person may be able to spread the infection before they shows any signs of being sick.  If that were the case, and if the zombie incubation period is as long as days or weeks, then entire populations could be infected before anyone even knows there’s a problem.

Could the West Nile Virus be a zombie virus spreading from mosquitos to humans?