By any means necessary Brownsville Health Director Art Rodriguez is getting the word out and taking action after a mosquito trapped in an area off Military Highway known as Colonia Galaxia came back positive for West Nile virus.
"It is the same area where Mexico had notified us on the other side of the river they had some dengue cases."
One mosquito out of a batch of 10 from this location was carrying the potentially deadly virus.
"We notified county to reach out to local physicians," said Rodriguez.
Within hours of learning the state's finding Thursday Brownsville health employees hit the streets walking door to door in the subdivision to also let residents know about what was found in their own neighborhood.
The infected mosquito was found in an empty lot on Calle Pluton.
"It's really humid right now so there are a lot of mosquitoes," said a man who lives nearby.
The residents of Colonia Galaxia are given fliers explaining West Nile and how to protect themselves and their properties from mosquitoes which could be carrying it.
"People need to be aware of how it's spread, not person to person, it's mosquito to person. Wear long sleeves, use Deet and stay indoors if you're at risk of chronic disease," said Rodriguez.
"I dump out all tires and buckets so there's no standing water and if I'm going to be outside I put bug spray on," said Brownsville resident.
Meanwhile city crews went straight to work spraying the Galaxia subdivision to fend off the insects before they infect someone living here.
"Typically West Nile will have symptoms such as headache, nausea, vomiting and in more severe cases, possibly convulsions," said Rodriguez.
Across the state this year, 783 people have contracted West Nile, 416 of those were neuroinvasive, such as, meningitis or encephalitis which affects the spinal cord and brain.
31 people in Texas have died after getting bitten by a mosquito like the one now found in Brownsville.
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