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Hardin, Orange Counties team up to fight mosquitoes

They will use a $158,000 grant to conduct surveillance for West Nile and Zika Virus.

KOUNTZE, Texas — When the heat rises, mosquitoes come out.

Silsbee resident Shiloh Creech knows the pattern all too well.

"My yard is constantly saturated, not to mention, we have a lot of little baby Galvez, and we've got the drainage ditches. They all have water in them," said Creech.

She's lived in several cities, but she says this part of Southeast Texas has to be the worst.

"If you light a little bonfire, you can take a foil packet, and you can put some sage and some rosemary in the foil packet, put it in the bottom of your bonfire, and that smoke will keep the mosquitoes away," Creech said.

The Hardin County Health Department has partnered with Orange County Mosquito Control Department to eliminate mosquitoes and learn more about diseases they carry.

"Mosquito season is upon us," Hardin County Health Department Director Sharon Whitley said.

Whitley says they will use a $158,000 grant to conduct surveillance for West Nile and Zika Virus.

The money will pay for new equipment for the Orange County Mosquito Control Department.

"Orange County Mosquito Control Department, they will be doing the spraying, and we will just be doing the disease investigation in case someone tests positive for West Nile or Zika in Orange County," Whitley said.

She said it's important to take precautions.

"Long sleeves," she said. "Make sure you use mosquito spray."

Shiloh says the only thing she knows to do is try to ward them off.

"If you can avoid them, try to stay out of the areas where you know they'll be worse," Creech said.

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