Pinellas dengue cases reach 20 for the year after seven new infections

AI-generated illustration. A mosquito rests on a flowerpot saucer holding standing water and leaf debris in a residential garden. Inspired by the story and Pinellas County.

Pinellas County added seven dengue cases between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, bringing its total for the year to 20. The figures come from the Florida Department of Health's weekly update, as reported by WUSF on Thursday.

That is a sharp rise from the state report dated Sept. 24, which the county cited in a Sept. 30 notice as showing seven confirmed Pinellas cases since August. WUSF reports there are early signs the spread from the Hillsborough outbreak may be pushing toward Pinellas.

The regional picture

Hillsborough remains the center of the outbreak. It had 36 more infections on the latest weekly report and 259 confirmed cases since the first onset in July. Carla Fry, the Health Department's administrator in Hillsborough, described transmission there this way: "It's pretty steady. It's not slower, it's not faster."

Statewide, 44 cases were reported during the week and 296 for the year across eight counties. Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco, which has three, account for more than 90 percent. The outbreak also includes the region's first dengue-related death in about 100 years: an 80-year-old woman bitten near her South Tampa home.

Health officials say the real number is higher. Many infected people never develop symptoms, and in others symptoms can take days to appear. When symptoms do appear, dengue can feel like the flu, with severe muscle aches, headaches, joint pain, fever and sometimes a rash. Severe cases can cause bleeding, shock or death.

What the county has been doing

Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco have each declared local states of emergency. WUSF reports the counties are working together on pesticide spraying and neighborhood inspections for standing water. WUSF also reported that, as of the previous Saturday, Pinellas was under a mosquito-borne illness alert.

In its Sept. 30 notice, the county said crews in treatment areas were going door to door and, with residents' permission, treating standing water. The crews wear Pinellas County uniforms and ID badges, and the county encourages residents to let them in. Completed and planned truck and aerial treatments are posted on the county's online treatment map.

The same notice said the county had detected increased West Nile virus activity in its sentinel chicken flocks. The county describes that as an early warning of possible human transmission.

What residents can do

Aedes larvae can hatch in standing water, so officials are asking residents to check their yards. The county recommends dumping standing water around your property once a week. Places to check include buckets, flowerpots, toys, pet dishes, bird baths, clogged rain gutters, discarded tires, pool covers and plant leaves.

Outdoors, officials recommend a federally registered insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol or 2-undecanone. They also advise loose long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and avoiding areas with heavy mosquito activity, especially around sunrise and sunset. Fry's advice is that it is "safe to assume that any mosquito you encounter could be a mosquito that is carrying dengue."

If you think you may have a mosquito-borne illness, call the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County at (727) 824-6932. The county posts updates at Pinellas.gov/mosquito.