The mosquito-borne disease, also called dengue fever, is usually brought stateside by international travelers
NEED TO KNOW
- Florida has reported 10 locally acquired cases of dengue fever this year, including the first in Pinellas County in 15 years
- Dengue fever, also known as “breakbone fever” due to the extreme body aches it can cause, is spread by infected mosquitoes; severe symptoms include fever, rash and body aches
- The CDC advises wearing protective clothing and using insect repellent to prevent mosquito bites in at-risk areas
Cases of dengue fever — commonly called “breakbone fever” due to the debilitating body aches it can cause — are spreading in Florida, with one county reporting its first locally acquired case in 15 years.
So far this year, eight people in Florida’s Hillsborough County and two in Pinellas County have locally contracted the mosquito-borne illness, which is not native to Florida. This marks the first time in the latter county that the disease has spread locally in over a decade.
Most cases of dengue in the U.S. occur in people who contracted the disease — which is spread by the bite of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito — elsewhere, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says…