The residents of Lee County have been warned by the local health officials to take proper precautions against mosquitoes after seeing a small spike in chickens testing positive for West Nile Virus.

Shelly Redovan, deputy director of Lee County Mosquito Control said that seven of the county’s sentinel chickens have tested positive for the virus. These were the chickens that were used to keep a track of mosquito-borne illnesses.

She said that at one given time not more than one or two county’s sentinel chickens test positive for the virus. The positive tests have come in from chickens in Sanibel, Bonita Springs, Estero, Boca Grande and east Fort Myers.

She said that the county will use helicopters, aircrafts and trucks to spray in the affected areas. She added, “We're not in any type of health-alert status or anything. We just want people to take it seriously and use some repellents.”

As per the Florida Department of Health the symptoms usually occur within three to fourteen days after being bitten and for most of the people the symptoms include headache, fever, pain and fatigue.