Jay Wortham found it under the cabinet below the kitchen sink after his mother died in August \u201d\u201d a blue bottle of insect repellent.<\/p>\n
His mother, Margorie Wortham, 91, died of West Nile virus, the mosquito-borne illness that has spread across this city and other parts of the country, killing 118 people and sickening nearly 3,000 others nationwide.<\/p>\n
Mr. Wortham believes that his mother was bitten by an infected mosquito one hot day in July while she sat on an old wooden bench under a pecan tree in her backyard. Though she had often used the bug repellent, she was not wearing any that day.<\/p>\n
Here in Dallas County, the West Nile outbreak\u2019s hardest-hit county in the United States, a few missed pumps of bug spray can haunt the relatives of those who die from the virus.<\/p>\n