FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Another North Texan has died of West Nile virus, bringing the North Texas West Nile death toll to at least 27 and the Texas toll to at least 51.

A Tarrant County Public Health statement Wednesday described the victim as a Hurst man in his late 70s with multiple underlying medical conditions. The death is the seventh reported in Tarrant County.

Federal health officials say this is the nation's worst year for the mosquito-borne virus since it was discovered in New York 13 years ago. Texas has about half of the U.S. deaths from the illness.

Several Texas counties have been spraying pesticide to help reduce the mosquito population.

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