Jean Abrams sat in the shade in Newtown Estates Park, about two miles from where the malaria cases occurred in Sarasota County. She had no idea there was even an outbreak. No one in his social circle has spoken about it, and Abrams said he hasn’t seen anything about malaria cases on social media.
Homeless for six months after losing his food management job, Sarasota native Abrams spends most of his time outdoors. With no money for food, he can’t afford to protect himself from mosquitoes. His immediate survival needs take precedence over protection against malaria.
“It’s awkward,” Abrams said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t like. I literally have to put away weapons to be safe.”
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Since the first case was reported the week of May 21-27, a total of four cases have been confirmed in Sarasota County by the Florida Department of Health and health officials are investigating a possible fifth case. Residents across the state have been advised to apply insect repellent, avoid areas with large mosquito populations, and wear long pants and shirts at night.
Some residents spending time outdoors near the Desoto Acres and Kensington Park area, where the cases occurred, are unaware or unfazed by the malaria outbreak.
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At 17th Street Park, Ken Hixon and Alton Ayers wore sunglasses and sat in folding chairs with drink glasses. His two dogs barked and ran at all the people coming through the creaky metal gate of the dog park.
The two men aren’t overly concerned about documented malaria cases blocks away in Kensington Park and 2.9 miles away in Desoto Acres. They opted not to use bug spray.
“I hadn’t really thought about it too much,” Hixon said. “Today there are no mosquitoes outside in the middle of the day.”
Ayers, a Sarasota native, donned a wide-brimmed hat to protect himself from the sun. He lives across the street from Desoto Acres, one of the locations where the outbreak occurred. He said that standing water, where mosquitoes breed, is not a problem for him. In fact, he said he’s been so hot that he’s had to constantly refill his birdbath.
He believes that the malaria cases have been caused by an increase in travel. While local officials have said that humans cannot contract the disease, they have confirmed the cases were transmitted locallymeaning that people contracted malaria from a mosquito or mosquitoes in the Sarasota area.
“I think it’s coming from somewhere,” Ayers said. “It has gotten bad because it comes from other countries.”
Rhoel Dinglasan, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that his suspicion is that an asymptomatic carrier of malaria, who had contracted it from another country, entered the Sarasota area. and was bitten by a mosquito here. So the bug could have infected someone else in the area.
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