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Four Floridians have died from a rare mosquito borne illness in the past six weeks. Eastern Equine Encephalitis is passed from birds to humans through mosquitoes. One in three people who contract the disease die, and as Whitney Ray tells us, there’s no cure.

Camp Bulloch lost his friend Wade Griffin last month to a rare mosquito borne illness.

“Wade was one of a kind and just a genuinely good hard working person,” said Camp.

Wade was 50 years old, a painter and a surfer. Last month he contracted Encephalitis, a disease transmitted from mosquitoes to humans.

“He was bitten on Tuesday evening just as best as we can tell, Friday he was in the emergency room and the following Friday he passed away,” said Camp.

Wade was living in Jacksonville, but health officials believe he contracted Encephalitis while visiting Tallahassee.

Besides Wade three other Floridians have died from the mosquito borne illness in the past month and a half. Two of the victims were from Hillsborough County and one lived in Wakulla.

The disease is carried by mosquito living within five miles of swampy areas. There is no cure for Encephalitis, that’s why the Department of Health is asking Floridians to take extra precautions like wearing bug repellent and staying indoors at dusk and dawn.

“It’s important to get rid of standing water in the yard and it’s also important to dress so that mosquitoes can’t get through the clothing you are wearing,” said Department of Health Mosquito Disease Specialist Dr. Carina Blackmore.

They’re precautions Camp and his family now follow daily.

“I make sure that myself and my children, my wife and everybody’s covered now because it’s something that could happen to anybody at anytime,” said Camp.

There are only 10 cases of Encephalitis reported nationwide every year. Four is the average in Florida, but the dangerous season isn’t over until the end of September. People who have contracted Encephalitic show flu-like symptoms and they normally surface between four and 10 days of being bitten.

Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus

Besides the four Encephalitis cases, a case of West Nile Virus and cases of Dengue Fever are showing up around the state. Dengue fever hasn’t been found in Florida since 1934, but this year 28 cases have been reported to the Department of Health. Most of the Dengue cases were found in Key West. Dr. Carina Blackmore, a mosquito disease expert with the Florida Department of Health says the reason Dengue Fever is hard to spot is because its symptoms are common.

“The symptoms are nonspecific, head-ache, muscle-ache, joint-ache, there are a number of diseases that present like that and so Dengue, given that it’s not present in Florida, has not been on the top of the list for the medical providers,” said Blackmore.

The one case of West Nile was found in Osceola County; so far there have been no human deaths this year connected to the West Nile Virus or Dengue Fever.