Tarrant County's first confirmed human West Nile virus case of 2026 is not the mild version. County health officials announced on July 24 that the patient has West Nile neuroinvasive disease, the form in which the virus reaches the brain, spinal cord or surrounding membranes.
Tarrant County Public Health did not release the patient's age, city or condition, citing privacy. What the county did release is the surveillance figure that gives the case its context: 86 mosquito pools across Tarrant County have tested positive for West Nile so far this season, according to the Fort Worth Report.