Help fight zika - remove standing water from your yard

The Franklin county mosquito Control department is urging homeowners to help control the local mosquito population by removing standing water from their properties.
Mosquitoes, particularly the aedes aegypti mosquito, are known to carry dangerous diseases, including the Zika virus.
There is no vaccine for Zika or many other mosquito borne diseases, so the best protection is to limit where the mosquitoes can breed.
The aedes aegypti mosquito only breeds in standing water, but they don’t need much.
They can breed in water in tires and birdbaths, but also in smaller spaces like bottle caps and cans.
Anything that holds water is a potential breeding site so the more items you can remove from your yard the better the chance of removing dangerous mosquitoes.

And don’t miss the obvious breeding sites like tarps, clogged gutters and drainage ditches and leaking outdoor faucets.

And while there have been no locally transmitted cases of zika in our area, there have been travel related cases found in both Leon and Bay counties.

While most Zika cases carry mild flu-like symptoms, the disease can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus which can lead to certain birth defects.

If you are pregnant and would like to be tested for Zika, just stop by your local health department.

You don’t have to make an appointment.

The heath departments are open from 8 till 5 Monday through Friday.

And remember, if you have any mosquito related concerns, call the Franklin County Mosquito control Department at 670- 8730.

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