The U.S. state of Texas on Thursday reported two more confirmed cases of the West Nile virus, bringing the total number of such cases to 641 so far this year.
According to the reports on the website of local English daily The Houston Chronicle, Sugarland, a city to the southwest of Houston, confirmed its first case of the virus, but no details were immediately available.
The city also said on its website that it has recently increased spraying for mosquitoes and is working with the Texas Department of State Health Services to trap and test mosquitos for the virus.
In another development related to the virus, an old man, who lived in the Wharton county, has died from the virus, and this is the first confirmed case of the virus in the county, which is also located southwest of Houston.
Officials from Wharton County only confirmed the death of the man, but did not say when the man died from the virus, which was first discovered in Uganda in 1937.
Texas is in the midst of its largest outbreak of the West Nile virus, which has already killed 24 people in the lone star state.
The West Nile virus was first discovered in the U.S. in 1999, and more than 30,000 people in the country have since then been infected by the virus.
The West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne illness that can lead to serious neurological disease in some cases, and its symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, nausea, dizziness and muscle weakness.
Commonly seen in temperate and tropical regions, the West Nile virus mainly infects birds, but is also known to infect human bodies mainly through mosquito biting. Scientists say about 80 percent of infections are symptomless.
The World Health Organization said that treatment of this virus often involves hospitalization, intravenous fluids, respiratory support and prevention of secondary infections.
