Florida’s Dengue Outbreak Now The Largest In Continental U.S. In Decades

FLORIDA – Florida’s current Dengue outbreak appears to be the largest in several decades in the continental United States.

State health officials reported this week that more than 250 locally acquired cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been tallied so far this year.

The vast majority of them were in Hillsborough County, Tampa.

Officials in Hillsborough and surrounding counties have declared local emergencies, and workers in the Tampa area are spraying day and night to tamp down the population of disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

Many infected people don’t get sick, but some experience fever, flu-like symptoms and aches. Severe cases can cause bleeding, shock and death. There has been one dengue death in florida this year.