The South Walton Mosquito Control is diligently testing for this along with existing common diseases in our area. Always remember over 1 million people die worldwide due to mosquito-borne illness every year!
Help us help you check around your house for standing water mosquito that carries this disease is prevalent in our area.
A 16-year-old boy, the first confirmed case of the Keystone virus in humans, is leading researchers to believe the virus could be widespread in North Florida.
Researchers from the University of Florida identified the Keystone virus in the teenager after he visited an urgent care clinic in North Central Florida in August of 2016. Medical professionals suspected he had Zika virus, considering his case was seen during a Zika outbreak, but he didn't. He tested positive for the Keystone virus, spread by a mosquito cousin to the Zika mosquito. He had a rash and fever. A report of his case was published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
“Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida,” J. Glenn Morris, research author and director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, said in a statement.
Morris suggests doctors might not have known to look for the virus in patients, which is why more cases might not have been identified.
The virus was first discovered in Tampa Bay-area animals in 1964. Since then, animal cases have been found from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay. Symptoms include a rash, mild fever, and encephalitis, brain inflammation. The Florida teen did not show signs of encephalitis.
More: Tick, mosquito, flea illnesses have tripled and the U.S. isn't fully prepared, CDC says
Help us help you check around your house for standing water mosquito that carries this disease is prevalent in our area.
A 16-year-old boy, the first confirmed case of the Keystone virus in humans, is leading researchers to believe the virus could be widespread in North Florida.
Researchers from the University of Florida identified the Keystone virus in the teenager after he visited an urgent care clinic in North Central Florida in August of 2016. Medical professionals suspected he had Zika virus, considering his case was seen during a Zika outbreak, but he didn't. He tested positive for the Keystone virus, spread by a mosquito cousin to the Zika mosquito. He had a rash and fever. A report of his case was published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
“Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida,” J. Glenn Morris, research author and director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, said in a statement.
Morris suggests doctors might not have known to look for the virus in patients, which is why more cases might not have been identified.
The virus was first discovered in Tampa Bay-area animals in 1964. Since then, animal cases have been found from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay. Symptoms include a rash, mild fever, and encephalitis, brain inflammation. The Florida teen did not show signs of encephalitis.
More: Tick, mosquito, flea illnesses have tripled and the U.S. isn't fully prepared, CDC says