SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — All of the water left behind by weeks of storms has now become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and officials are concerned about diseases.
The Florida Department of Health has issued a Mosquito-Borne Illness Advisory in Sarasota County that is now expected to last through the end of the year.
The county has ramped up efforts in the last month to combat mosquitoes and eliminated avenues for breeding grounds to thrive.
Officials with the Sarasota Health Department said three sentinel chickens being observed by mosquito management have now tested positive for West Nile virus infection. They said this means that the virus is present in the area and everyone needs to be on alert and take precautions.
"Mainly, I have them under my tree is my tree over here in the shaded area by my garbage cans," said Don, a Sarasota neighbor who wanted to go by only his first name.
He said some county staff had placed a mosquito trap in one of the trees in his yard early in the summer and had retrieved it a few weeks ago.
"I had no mosquitoes in that trap for months, but that was before we got all this rain. There were only houseflies up until a month and a half ago," said Don.
That's when heavy rains from Hurricane Debby flooded the area in the first week of August.
Since then Sarasota County's Mosquito Management reported 468 service calls in the last week of August alone, and around 200 calls so far in September. Crews have also treated nearly 225,000 acres.
"Debbie increased our rain and a lot of water but a lot of mosquito eggs were flushed out at that time. But we're not seeing the flushing that we saw with Debbie so now we're seeing those mosquito populations increase," said Wade Brennan, manager of Sarasota County Mosquito Management.
With the rise in the amount of mosquitoes, West Nile Virus is now top of mind.
"These are viruses that we see every single year in the state of Florida and we're going to see West Nile pretty much every single year in Sarasota County in our sentinel chicken surveillance," Brennan said.
Mosquito management staff say they are testing mosquitoes for all the key viruses including the one that causes the rare sloth fever that's recently appeared in the state.
"Triple-E is extremely serious as well as SLE and even West Nile. They're all very serious forms of viruses that we need to be cautious of in the public needs to be aware and to take those precautions that we're asking for them to take," Brennan said.
County officials say if you have a mosquito problem, make sure you and your neighbors report that to your local mosquito control to get your yard and the area treated.