Hillsborough County Issues Dengue Alert After 95 Cases as Local Transmission Spreads in Florida
Updated
Updated · The Conversation · Sep 15
Hillsborough County Issues Dengue Alert After 95 Cases as Local Transmission Spreads in Florida
1 articles · Updated · The Conversation · Sep 15
Summary
Hillsborough County has documented 95 dengue cases since July and issued a mosquito-borne illness alert in August after multiple infections were acquired locally.
A Sept. 8 death of an elderly woman may be tied to the outbreak, according to her family, though the Florida Department of Health has not confirmed dengue as the cause.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—common in Florida and able to breed in tiny amounts of standing water—spread the virus, while roughly 3 in 4 infections cause no symptoms and can help transmission go unnoticed.
About 1 in 20 patients develop severe dengue, which can turn life-threatening as fever subsides; untreated cases can kill up to 10%, but prompt hospital care cuts that below 1 in 100.
Florida remains the highest-risk U.S. state for local dengue spread as global cases topped 14 million in 2024 and warmer temperatures, urban growth and travel expand the virus's range.