Duval County now has two confirmed cases of West Nile virus in which the patients were infected locally, the Florida Department of Health in Duval County (DOH-Duval) announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
DOH-Duval and Jacksonville Mosquito Control are ground spraying to deal with potentially infected mosquitoes as they monitor new cases.<\/p>\n
Many people who are infected with West Nile virus do not get sick, the DOH said.<\/p>\n
For those who do get sick, typical symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, weakness, rash, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Less common symptoms include neck stiffness, altered mental status and disorientation. <\/p>\n
Symptoms of West Nile virus can appear anytime between 2 and 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito, which is how the virus is transmitted. It is not contagious between people.<\/p>\n
DOH-Duval reminds the community that you can help cut down on the mosquito population by draining any standing water around your home:<\/p>\n
Drain water from garbage cans, buckets, pool covers, coolers, toys, flowerpots, or any other containers where sprinkler or rainwater has collected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Discard old tires, drums, bottles, cans, pots and pans, broken appliances, and other items that aren\u2019t being used.<\/p>\n
Empty and clean birdbaths and pets\u2019 water bowls at least once or twice a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Protect boats and vehicles from rain with tarps that don\u2019t accumulate water.<\/p>\n
Maintain swimming pools in good condition and appropriately chlorinated. Empty plastic swimming pools when not in use.<\/p>\n
You can protect yourself from mosquito bites by wearing proper clothing, using mosquito repellent, covering doors and windows with screens:<\/p>\n
Clothing \u2013\u00a0If you must be outside when mosquitoes are active, cover up. Wear shoes, socks, long pants, and long sleeves.<\/p>\n
Repellent \u2013\u00a0Apply mosquito repellent to bare skin and clothing. Always use repellents according to the label. Repellents with 10-30 percent DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and IR3535 are effective. Use mosquito netting to protect children younger than 2 months old.<\/p>\n
Screens \u2013 Keep mosquitoes out of your house. Repair broken screening on windows, doors, porches, and patios.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Residents of Florida are encouraged to report dead birds to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission\u2019s site.<\/p>\n
For information related to mosquito control and prevention activities in Duval County, visit the city of Jacksonville\u2019s Mosquito Control Program<\/a>. <\/p>\n To request mosquito control to inspect or spray your property or neighborhood, contact 904-630-CITY (2489) and an operator will assist you. Requests for such services can also be made online<\/a>. <\/p>\n For more information about mosquito-borne illnesses, visit the Department\u2019s mosquito prevention webpage<\/a> or view the weekly mosquito-borne illness surveillance reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n If you are experiencing any symptoms, please call DOH-Duval by calling 904-253-1850.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duval County now has two confirmed cases of West Nile virus in which the patients were infected locally,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[571,116,118,117,103440],"class_list":["post-401131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-health","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-mosquito"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401131","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=401131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}