Orange County Mosquito Control issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory Thursday after several sentinel chickens in the area tested positive for West Nile virus.<\/p>\n
The chickens are part of the county\u2019s early-warning system for such illnesses. Kept in coops throughout the region, the birds are routinely tested for viruses.<\/p>\n
West Nile is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. So far this summer, according to the county, no human cases have been reported in Central Florida. Each year about 2,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing is to just avoid getting bitten, if you can,\u201d said Steve Harrison, manager at Orange County Mosquito Control.<\/p>\n
To protect yourself from their bites, the CDC advises using insect repellent and wearing loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants outdoors. If insect repellent is used with sunscreen, the agency recommends applying sunscreen first and then repellent.<\/p>\n
Since mosquitos breed in standing water, Harrison advises residents to check their properties for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny standing water you have, tip it out,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people have flowerpots, maybe a pet water dish in the backyard or a birdbath. Anything that can hold water for more than five days, will breed mosquitoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the county, transmission of West Nile peaks from July through September due to high temperatures and frequent rainfall, which create favorable breeding conditions for the buzzing pests.<\/p>\n
Symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n
Harrison said the county will continue to monitor the issue and keep the public updated on developments. He encourages residents to remain vigilant but not to panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an advisory to get the word out and let people know to take extra precaution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County Mosquito Control issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory Thursday after several sentinel chickens in the area tested…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,28,571,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,109,1316],"class_list":["post-383223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}