Orange County sends spray planes after five local dengue cases; Seminole has none acquired locally this year

Dengue fever caught from local mosquitoes has reached Orange County, and the county scheduled low-flying spray planes over two west-side areas this weekend. Across the line in Seminole County, the state's latest surveillance report lists no locally acquired cases so far this year.

The Orange County cases

The Florida Department of Health had confirmed five locally transmitted dengue cases in Orange County as of Oct. 12, four in the Apopka area and one in Pine Hills, according to a county news release issued Friday. Orange County Mosquito Control set aerial treatments to start at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, weather permitting, with a fallback of 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 17, if thunderstorms got in the way.

The treatment zones covered parts of central and south Apopka, including neighborhoods near U.S. 441, Main Street and Park Avenue, south Apopka and Clarcona, Paradise Heights and land north of Lake Apopka. In Pine Hills, the county listed neighborhoods near West Colonial Drive and North Pine Hills Road, the area around West Washington Street, and the Bel-Aire Woods and Orlo Vista communities.

Apopka High School was outside the treatment area.

County officials said people did not need to take extra steps to protect pets, livestock or gardens, and that the products used are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Spraying schedules are posted on the county's arbovirus monitoring page and sent through OC Alert.

Where Seminole stands

The Health Department's weekly arbovirus report for Oct. 4 through Oct. 10 counts 368 locally acquired dengue cases in Florida this year, 72 of them reported that week alone. They come from eight counties: Hillsborough (310), Pinellas (37), Miami-Dade (9), Orange (5), Pasco (4), and one each in Broward, Palm Beach and Polk.

Most were dengue type 2, and illness onset climbed from 21 cases in July to 159 in August and 188 in September.

Seminole County does not appear on that local list. Seminole has reported three of the 288 dengue cases picked up this year by people who had traveled to countries where the virus circulates. Statewide, 240 of those travel cases trace back to Cuba.

As of Oct. 10, Orange County was one of seven counties under a mosquito-borne illness alert, and Brevard was among 10 counties under an advisory. Seminole was on neither list.

Sources

newsroom.ocfl.net

floridahealth.gov