TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)— A second case of dengue fever has been reported in Hillsborough County, the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County announced.
DOH-Hillsborough and the Hillsborough County Mosquito Management are coordinating surveillance and prevention efforts by doing treatments.
What are the symptoms?
Dengue can present as a flu-like illness with:
- Severe muscle aches
- Joint pain
- Fever
- Sometimes a rash
- Typically, there is no respiratory symptoms
According to DOH-Hillsborough, symptoms can appear within 15 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Dengue is not contagious, but is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito.
How to avoid being bitten
The DOH-Hillsborough is reminding the community to:
- Avoid being bitten by mosquitoes
- Wear protective clothing (loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants)
- Apply EPA-registered insect repellents to exposed skin and clothing
- Control mosquitoes inside and outside
- Repairing damaged screening on windows, doors, porches, and patios.
- Drain water from garbage cans, buckets, pool covers, coolers, toys, flowerpots, or any other containers where sprinkler or rainwater has collected
“The Department continues to conduct statewide surveillance for mosquito-borne illnesses, including West Nile virus infections, Eastern equine encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, malaria, chikungunya, and dengue,” DOH-Hillsborough said…