SAN ANTONIO -- With school just around the corner some school districts aren't taking any chances when it comes to the West Nile virus.
The San Antonio Independent School District says they will spray areas around their buildings if they need to, but they are already taking steps to prevent the spread of the disease.
According to Leslie Price, SAISD will be keeping the grass mowed very short around play areas and buildings.
"We know mosquitoes can hide in tall grass," she explained.
More than 260 cases of the virus have been reported in Texas, but Dr. Dennis Conrad at the UT Health Science Center says students aren't really at risk. He says some other diseases should be of more concern.
"The greater risk to children are from some of the vaccines-preventable diseases like whooping cough," he said.
Conrad said it's actually natural for cases of West Nile virus to increase every ten years or so.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the last time we saw numbers close to what we've been seeing recently was in 2003.
The first Bexar County death from the virus was reported this week and city officials say they are not taking any chances.
The City of San Antonio is stepping up efforts to help prevent the spread of West Nile virus. Seven more trucks have been added to the fleet that will spray around the city.
San Antonio Metro Health says they'll be targeting areas where both people and mosquitoes are common, like in parks, public lands and schools where there is evidence of mosquito-breeding or standing water.
But they say San Antonio is too dry and therefore doesn't have the right climate for the spread of the disease, and therefore making aerial spraying unlikely.
