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Hillsborough gains additional dengue resources
Battling dengue fever has become a statewide effort. The Tampa Bay area remains the epicenter of Florida's outbreak and crews from across the state are in Hillsborough County Wednesday evening to help with the spraying efforts. FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Mosquito control crews from across Florida are helping Hillsborough County fight a dengue fever outbreak that continues to spread across the Tampa Bay area.
Hillsborough dengue fever response
Big picture view:
Three helicopters from Lee County and one from Hillsborough County spent the morning spraying larvicide to target mosquitoes. The county’s efforts are continuing around the clock, with assistance from Pasco, Manatee and Brevard counties, as well as the Florida Department of Agriculture.
The largest concentration of dengue cases remains along the I-4 and I-275 corridor. However, cases have been reported in 51 of Hillsborough County’s nearly 60 ZIP codes.
According to the state’s most recent report, Florida had about 300 dengue cases, with nearly 90% reported in Hillsborough County. The county has also reported one death associated with the outbreak.
Officials expect the statewide case total to increase when the next report is released Thursday.
Hillsborough County has canvassed 98 communities with known cases. Mosquito control workers have also identified 19 mosquitoes that tested positive for dengue.
Regional travel risk transmission
Why you should care:
The statewide response is important because people can carry the virus from one county to another, even though the mosquitoes that spread dengue generally do not travel far on their own.
Jenifer McBride with the Lee County Mosquito Control District said her county is helping Hillsborough because infected people can travel before realizing they have the virus.
"The thing about the Aedes Aegypti [the mosquito that spreads Dengue], it doesn't travel very far, but people do," McBride said. "We had a Hillsborough County resident travel to Lee County. They had symptoms, didn't realize they had dengue, and they were in a very popular tourist outside area. So that's how that disease gets spread to counties and that's why we're here to help kind of mitigate the problems that come with viruses."
Backyard mosquito trap results
What they're saying:
Gabriela Henderson, with Hillsborough County’s Mosquito Management, said the county has been making progress in its response.
"We set 40 more out just this last week and 36 came back with zero mosquitoes in them, so we're seeing the numbers of mosquitoes in the traps drop a ton," she said. "But if you continue to have that, you know, larva in your backyard that you're not dumping out the water, as soon as those become adults and bite somebody that's sick, now we've got more mosquitoes spreading it."
Changing weather dengue season
What's next:
Mosquito control experts say the region is approaching the end of mosquito season and hope the changing weather will help bring case numbers down in the coming weeks.
"Typically, with dengue, we see a peak about this time, you know, September, October," McBride said.
She explained that as the rainy season ends and weather conditions change, fewer mosquitoes are naturally present, which can help reduce transmission and make control efforts more effective.
The Source: Information for this story came from interviews with mosquito management officials in Hillsborough and Lee Counties and Florida Department of Health dengue surveillance reporting.