Hillsborough County has confirmed its first case of West Nile Virus in a human this year.
Steve Huard, spokesman for Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough, said the Tampa Bay area has been under an advisory for two months now, but this is the first case confirmed in Hillsborough.
The adult male is the eighth Floridian to test positive for West Nile Virus in 2015. At least a dozen sentinel chickens have tested positive throughout the county.
Huard said West Nile is serious, but there are there are multiple mosquito-borne viruses to be concerned about
"There's five different arbo-viruses currently circulating in our community and that's why we put an advisory out,” Huard said.
Of the 80 species of mosquitoes that live in Florida, two species are container breeders. They don’t carry West Nile Virus, but they do carry Chikungunya and dengue fever.
The first human case in the Tampa Bay was confirmed in Pinellas County in August.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Nile has been found in humans in every state this year except West Virginia, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Symptoms of West Nile include fatigue, headache, join pain and vomiting.
Daylina Miller is a reporter with WUSF in Tampa. Health News Florida receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
