MIAMI – Miami-Dade County was placed under a mosquito-borne illness alert Friday following cases of dengue fever reported in the area.
Two cases of locally-transmitted dengue have been confirmed in the county, with both cases appearing to be related to previous local cases.
Miami-Dade has reported ten confirmed cases of dengue in the 2019.
Dengue is spread through mosquito bites through the Aedes mosquitoes which also spread chikungunya and Zika virus, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Though rarely fatal, those that contract dengue take about a week to recover.
Symptoms of dengue include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Eye pain
- Muscle, joint or bone pain
- Rash
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Unusual bleeding.
Miami-Dade County residents are urged to protect their homes and families.
- Drain water from garbage cans, house gutters, buckets, pool covers, coolers, toys, flower pots or any other containers where sprinkler or rain water has collected.
- Discard old tires, drums, bottles, cans, pots and pans, broken appliances and other items that aren't being used.
- Empty and clean birdbaths and pet's water bowls at least once or twice a week
- Protect boats and vehicles from rain with tarps that don't accumulate water.
- Maintain swimming pools in good condition and appropriately chlorinated. Empty plastic swimming pools when not in use