{"id":416747,"date":"2026-10-02T13:28:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416747\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:28:58","slug":"pinellas-urges-residents-to-do-their-part-as-dengue-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416747\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas urges residents to do their part as dengue grows"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 This week, both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have extended their State of Local Emergency to continue fighting dengue fever.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay region has 179 confirmed dengue fever cases<\/a> across Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.<\/p>\n

But dengue isn’t the only mosquito-borne illness on their radar.<\/p>\n

Alissa Berro, director of Pinellas County Mosquito Control, said there has been an uptick of West Nile virus activity in its sentinel chicken flocks, which can be an early warning of potential human transmission.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are no human cases of West Nile in the Tampa area.<\/p>\n

“This was a little bit higher than what we have traditionally seen in other years. But this is not abnormal in general to see West Nile spiking at this time,” she said.<\/p>\n

Berro said the Tampa region is in the path for migratory birds, which can bring additional West Nile from the north.<\/p>\n

That’s why it’s important to work with the chickens.<\/p>\n

“What we’re able to do is do a blood draw on them once a week. Their blood gets tested by the state for antibodies to West Nile, Eastern equine encephalitis and Saint Louis encephalitis for us,” she added.<\/p>\n

No chickens are hurt in the process, but each bite shares important information for prevention.<\/p>\n

Berro called the birds an early warning system.<\/p>\n

“We’ve taken a lot of action, so that involves we’re doing more ULV truck adulticiding because when you’re dealing with mosquitoes that are transmitting a disease, your first goal is you have to knock down that adult population. That\u2019s what transmitting it, so you’ve got to get rid of those first, because they’re actively getting birds sick and could have the potential to bite a human and get somebody sick,” Berro said.<\/p>\n

While West Nile is one focus, dengue fever continues to be a top priority.<\/p>\n

Traps are used to capture dengue-fever carrying mosquitos that are drawn to human blood.<\/p>\n

Berro said one of the traps releases a specific smell.<\/p>\n

“This is supposed to mimic human skin emanations, and what I mean by that is think stinky bio. The smell of your feet, the smell of your sweat. Mosquitoes love it,” she added.<\/p>\n

From the traps to its lab, the team sorts through mosquitos that have West Nile and dengue.<\/p>\n

These little critters carry clues that they’re still buzzing around the region.<\/p>\n

That’s why messaging is important to break through the noise.<\/p>\n

Brian Pellerin, public information coordinator for Pinellas County Government, said one method is through a text alert through Alert Pinellas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We have signage over the roadways. We’ve put signage in bus stops in libraries in so many high traffic areas, just trying to catch your attention as you’re going around,” he said.<\/p>\n

Pellerin said that the county is offering a free helping hand with their crews going out in neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

“Our trained staff can identify places you’re maybe not thinking of, right? Tops of fence posts, a little groove in your garbage can, little bamboo stocks in your backyard,” he said. “We’ve seen kayaks and things you don’t think that hold water or aren’t breeding grounds for mosquitoes that are. Let them help you find those areas. Identify the places that are breeding mosquitoes on your property.”<\/p>\n

Pellerin encourages families to accept the help.<\/p>\n

Crews will be wearing Pinellas County uniforms and an ID badge.<\/p>\n

Whether its West Nile or dengue, the approach is the same: Dump standing water, dress in light-colored, long-sleeved clothes and defend yourself with EPA-registered repellents.<\/p>\n

“This is a situation that requires the residents to take action,” Pellerin said.<\/p>\n

Every little effort to combat the smallest of creatures.<\/p>\n

If you believe you have a mosquito-borne illness, please contact the FDOH in Pinellas County at (727) 824-6932.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 This week, both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have extended their State of Local Emergency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3948,571,115438,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":["post-416747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-health","tag-health","tag-justina-rhines","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416747","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=416747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}