Southern Denton County leads the way in West Nile infection rate - Dallas Morning News (subscription)

If North Texas is the epicenter of the West Nile outbreak in the nation, then ground zero in the infection rate appears to be located in southern Denton County.

With 134 cases and two deaths, Denton County has 20 cases per 100,000 residents, officials say. Twelve new cases were reported in the past two days.

By contrast, Dallas County â€" with more than three times the population - has 13 cases per 100,000, with 309 cases and 12 deaths.

“We have the highest attack rate in the state,” said Bing Burton, health director in Denton County which plans to conduct aerial spraying Thursday and Friday nights to combat the spread of the mosquito-borne disease.

He said Denton County officials are most concerned with the high number of cases in the Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village areas, west of Interstate 35E and south of Lewisville Lake.   

Lewisville has 27 cases per 100,000 in population. Most of the cases are located in the northwestern part of the city, according to Lewisville officials.

Flower Mound is running close behind with 25 cases per 100,000, according to the Denton County Health Department. 

Highland Village, which a population of less than 16,000, has the highest rate â€"32 cases per 100,000.

Burton said he doesn’t know why these communities have been hard hit by the disease. But he believes it’s probably due to the population density in these areas.