A Florida county has reported its first locally acquired case of dengue fever, marking a new warning sign for the mosquito-borne illness in the state.
The Florida Department of Health in Citrus County, on the state’s west coast roughly an hour north of Tampa, confirmed over the weekend that a resident had contracted dengue locally.
Florida has now logged 23 locally acquired dengue cases this year. Earlier this month, health officials reported eight cases in Hillsborough County and two more in nearby Pinellas County.
Virginia is the only other state in the contiguous US to have reported a locally acquired case of the disease this year, with one case recorded earlier this month.
Across the country, the US has documented 1,575 dengue fever cases, including both travel-related and locally acquired infections. Among the contiguous states, Florida has the highest total, with 108 cases.
Most dengue infections identified in the US are tied to international travel. The disease had been nearly eliminated domestically by the 1970s following efforts to control the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the virus-carrying species recognizable by the white bands on its legs.
But after that eradication campaign ended, Aedes aegypti populations rebounded in parts of the country, allowing dengue fever to spark occasional outbreaks, especially in Florida, Texas and California.
Since 2010, at least nine US states have reported local dengue transmission, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pictured above is an Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species which carries the dengue fever virus
Overall, since that year, more than 600 cases of dengue spreading locally in the US have been recorded.
Florida has recorded the most – more than 600 cases – followed by Hawaii with 250, Texas with 47 and California with 27.
Additional cases have also been recorded in Arizona, North Carolina, West Virginia and New York.
Dengue is spread through the bites of infected Aedes species mosquitoes.
Symptoms include fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, severe muscle, joint and bone pain, nausea, vomiting and a rash, usually appearing five to seven days after a mosquito bite.
Most people recover within a week, but some develop severe dengue, which can cause shock, internal bleeding and death if not treated promptly.
The new case comes as the CDC has updated its travel alert for the virus after detecting unusual upticks in cases across the world.
In particular, the agency warned travelers heading to 11 countries and territories to take precautions, highlighting a rise in cases in these areas.
The CDC said it had identified a ‘higher-than-expected number of dengue cases among US travelers returning from’ Bolivia, Cambodia, Colombia, Kenya, Malaysia , Maldives, New Caledonia, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Tonga and Vietnam.
Health officials urged travelers to wear insect repellent, long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors, and to sleep in air-conditioned rooms or a room with window screens.
They warned that children under five, adults over 65 and pregnant women were considered to be at higher risk from the virus.
