Travel Safely: protect yourself from mosquito-borne illnesses this holiday season

Reporter: Asha Patel Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

It’s the holiday season, and for some, that means traveling.

“Make sure you know what you’re going into,” said Jennifer McBride with the Lee County Mosquito Control District.

Some countries are seeing an influx of mosquito-borne illnesses.

“Now, dengue is the one mosquito virus we’re concerned about. We had a lot of travel cases here in Lee County and the state of Florida,” said McBride.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and India have higher-than-expected dengue cases.

“It actually starts by the mosquito biting something that has that virus. It basically takes about seven days to get into salivary glands, and when it bites you, along with the saliva, it’s passing that virus to you,” said McBride.

McBride knows firsthand what it’s like to have it.

“I had flu-like symptoms. I had a 104 fever for about a week. I had a terrible headache. My stomach was extremely upset. I felt I had the worst flu in the world. It was not fun,” said McBride.

She told WINK News that they have a program to help mitigate the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses locally.

“Our sentinel chicken program. We’ve got 18 coups throughout the county. What we do is we actually draw the chicken’s blood, and it will tell us if it’s carrying any antibodies, if a mosquito bit it that possibly has West Nile,” said McBride.

If detected, Lee County Mosquito Control will spray that area.

“You don’t notice it right away. It’s not like you get bit by a mosquito and you get sick. It takes 7 to ten days after,” said McBride.

McBride said the best thing you can do is check the CDC website for any alerts in the country you’re traveling to, protect yourself and remain vigilant.

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