Orange County targeting mosquitos after dengue case

Orange County officials say a person came down with dengue fever here in Pine Hills. Now they're asking everyone to take precautions. These wiggly little bugs are mosquito larvae, specifically Aedes aegypti. These are the ones that can transmit dengue fever and several other dangerous diseases. Orange County mosquito control manager Steve Harrison says they collected them from standing water near where the person caught the virus. So the individual contracted dengue locally and in response our crews have been out doing increased control measures as well as surveillance to try and minimize the vector for dengue which is Aedes aegypti. Harrison says their teams are now working throughout Pine Hills trying to find and kill mosquitoes. Crews go out they actively do control measures. They will actually treat containers if they can't dump them. They will treat other areas where mosquito larvae are found. They'll knock adult mosquitoes with a product that's labeled for adult mosquitoes. They bring some mosquitoes to the county's new lab to test them for the virus. We'll extract the liquid and it's going to go into a separate column and it's going to go through a series of washes. So all we're left with is really small particles of RNA. Then that RNA is going to get rehydrated and that's where we take it over and we test the RNA specifically for the virus. Aedes aegypti are active during the daytime. Harrison says the best ways to avoid bites are by covering exposed skin and making sure there's no standing water on your property. Orange County is also currently under an advisory for West Nile virus that mosquitoes also transmit. In Pine Hills, Matt Trezza, Fox 35 News.