WEST PALM BEACH — The Florida Department of Health has announced that Palm Beach County has a confirmed case of dengue fever.
In its mosquito-borne illness advisory, issued Thursday, the department did not say where the case occurred in the county, but said the department and the county’s Mosquito Control Division are “coordinating surveillance and prevention efforts by surveilling and treating the affected area.”
Dengue fever, which is spread by infected mosquitoes, is painful and debilitating, but rarely fatal, the state Department of Health notes on its website. Sometimes known as “breakbone fever,” symptoms of dengue include a sudden onset of fever, severe headache, eye pain, muscle and joint pain, and bleeding. Vomiting and diarrhea may be present in some cases, the DOH said.
The disease, for which there is no treatment or vaccine, usually lasts four to seven days. Although the disease was eliminated in Florida decades ago, it has recurred in cases of people traveling to countries where dengue is endemic. There was an outbreak in Key West in 2009, and in Martin County in 2013, the department said.