SARASOTA -- The state health department confirms a seventh case of malaria reported in Sarasota County from an outbreak that began in May.
Officials say the patient is a homeless person living in the affected area of north Sarasota County.
Mosquito management director Wade Brennan says they are returning to that area to spray for larvae from the air and adult mosquitoes from the ground. Brennan says the health department will also hand out netting and repellent to the homeless population.
Plants such as water lettuce make it easier for the anopheles mosquito to breed. Brennan is also asking residents in the affected area with ponds or lakes to reach out for mosquito-eating fish.
It may take as much as 90 days for the cycle to work through and for Sarasota County to be declared mosquito-free.
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