St. Tammany Parish officials say they have found the first instance of the West Nile virus in Louisiana this year.
Mosquitoes collected from traps in the Tammany Hills neighborhood of Covington over the last two weeks have tested positive for the infection
Officials with the St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement department said residents in the area should can expect increased chemical spraying from trucks, airplanes and helicopters in the coming weeks to kill mosquito larva.
Those officials said larvicide spraying efforts that started earlier this month have yielded positive results in denting the population of possibly infected mosquitoes.
Still, residents are urged to wear insect repellents, long sleeve shirts and pants and avoid being outside during 'peak biting times:' One hour before and after dusk and dawn.
Most people who contract West Nile Virus do not actually develop symptoms, but about 20 percent develop fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, joint pain and fatigue, among other symptoms.
Fatalities from West Nile virus are rare, but symptoms can become severe for about one in 150 people with the disease, and about one in 10 of those severe cases turn deadly, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Testing by the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine found one out of the 89 sample pools tested last week came back positive for the disease.
So far this year, 1631 pools have been tested in St. Tammany.