As the threat of West Nile Virus subsides, officials are reviewing the city's response to what health experts are calling the worst year ever for West Nile in Texas. As of November 6, more than a third of the 5,054 West Nile Virus (WNV) cases reported nationally were from the Lone Star State.

In Arlington, there were 64 reported cases of West Nile Virus. In all of Tarrant County, there were 267 reported cases of WNV and nine deaths, including one in Arlington.

Cities throughout North Texas expanded their mosquito-control programs in order to combat the spread of West Nile. In Arlington, Fire Chief Don Crowson, credits the city's successful WNV response on the implementation of an effective Integrated Mosquito Management (IMM) concept, featuring educational mosquito awareness programs, surveillance and environmentally safe methods of control.

" The City team identified and aggressively investigated areas of concern based on the locations of human West Nile Virus cases in Arlington,' said Chief Crowson. " The WNV control effort involved the trapping and testing of mosquitoes, the removal of sources of standing water and the application of larvicide in areas where mosquito larva were found. In the few cases where larviciding had a limited impact, the team approved targeted ground spraying.'

Chief Crowson says its success was due to the coordinated efforts of the Multi-Departmental WNV Response Team, meaning the city was able to effectively deal with multiple WNV issues. The response team consisted of members from the City Manager's Office; Community, Development & Planning - Environmental Services; Arlington Fire Department; Public Health Authority and the Office of Communication.

" Regular status meetings helped the City team direct resources to areas of concern, in a targeted way,' Crowson said. " This aggressive and focused effort helped reduce the WNV mosquito population, which we believe, had a positive impact on the number of human WNV cases in Arlington."