3 Florida Counties Declare Emergencies Over 392 Dengue Cases
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 25
3 Florida Counties Declare Emergencies Over 392 Dengue Cases
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 25
Summary
Hillsborough and Pinellas counties declared emergencies Thursday, joining Pasco a day earlier, as Florida’s west-central outbreak drove a faster mosquito-control response.
Florida has reported 392 resident dengue cases this year, with Hillsborough alone accounting for 177 cases in what local officials called a “wildly unusual” surge.
The declarations let counties speed spending, deploy treatments and seek reimbursement; Hillsborough has sent low-flying helicopters to spray affected areas, while Pinellas crews are going door-to-door to remove breeding sites.
At least one person has died — 80-year-old Tampa resident Gay Small, who contracted dengue near her home — underscoring a shift from mostly travel-linked cases to an unusual rise in local transmission since July.
More than 2,000 dengue cases have been reported in the U.S. this year, mostly in Puerto Rico, while the WHO has logged over 2.2 million infections and nearly 1,200 deaths worldwide.