Hillsborough Dengue Cases Nearly Double to 95 as State Probes First Possible Death

The Florida Department of Health is investigating whether dengue fever killed an 80-year-old South Tampa woman who died last week, which would mark the first death tied to Hillsborough County's dengue outbreak. The news lands the same week the county's locally acquired case count nearly doubled, jumping from 59 to 95 in seven days, a surge that has state health officials calling Hillsborough the epicenter of Florida's outbreak.

Hillsborough now accounts for 95 of the state's 111 locally acquired dengue cases recorded since July, according to the health department's most recent arbovirus report, covering Aug. 30 through Sept. 5. Miami-Dade has seven cases, Pinellas has five and Pasco has two. State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo used the word "epicenter" to describe the county last week, before the case count climbed by 36 in a single reporting period.

A Hillsborough health department spokeswoman confirmed the department is "actively investigating the recently reported death of a Hillsborough County resident, possibly associated with a dengue virus infection," but said privacy rules prevent officials from releasing further details about the case. Family members told local media outlets the woman who died was 80 and lived in South Tampa.

Dengue rarely kills people in the United States. Most U.S. cases are travelers who caught the virus overseas, in places like South America or the Caribbean, and brought it home. What is happening in Hillsborough is different: mosquitoes here are picking up the virus and spreading it locally, without anyone needing to travel first.

"We don't usually see locally acquired cases like we're seeing now," said Michael Teng, an associate professor of medicine at USF Health. He also cautioned that the official numbers almost certainly undercount the real spread of the virus, since many infected people never get sick enough to see a doctor.

What dengue feels like

Dengue causes a flu-like illness with severe muscle aches, joint pain, fever and sometimes a rash. It earned the nickname "breakbone fever" because of how badly it can make the body ache. Symptoms typically show up within 15 days of a bite, and severe cases often require hospitalization. The virus cannot spread person to person; it only moves through mosquito bites, which is why controlling the mosquito population is the main defense.

The mosquitoes responsible, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are common in Florida and behave differently than the mosquitoes most people picture. They bite during the day, favoring the hours around sunrise and sunset, and prefer shade to direct sun. That makes them likely to be waiting in a backyard or on a porch rather than swarming at night.

Helicopters over central Tampa

Hillsborough County Mosquito Management crews have escalated aerial spraying, sending helicopters out of Tampa Executive Airport to treat central Tampa neighborhoods including Busch Boulevard, South Tampa near San Miguel Street, East Tampa between Manhattan Avenue and 50th Street, Seminole Heights, Ybor City, West Tampa and Palma Ceia. Pasco County Mosquito Control has crossed county lines to help fly the missions, since only a limited number of pilots statewide are trained to spray for mosquitoes from the air.

The spray is a liquid form of Bti, a naturally occurring bacterium that targets mosquito larvae and does not harm people, pets, fish, birds or beneficial insects. Officials say the helicopters fly low, close to rooftops, so the treatment reaches standing water hidden in backyards. County officials say heavy rain this summer, combined with people spending more time outdoors around the Fourth of July and Labor Day, has fed a spike in mosquito activity.

What residents can do

Health officials are pushing three actions: spray, cover and drain. That means using a repellent with DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol or 2-undecanone; wearing loose, long-sleeved clothing outdoors, especially at sunrise and sunset; and dumping any standing water around the house. A bottle cap of water is enough to breed more than 100 mosquito larvae, and in this heat it can take as little as five days for an egg to become a biting adult.

Anyone with dengue symptoms, including fever, severe joint or muscle pain, or a rash, is urged to contact a healthcare provider or the county health department for guidance on safe testing and treatment.

Mosquito control officials say the spraying will continue into the weekend and in the weeks ahead as they track where new "positive pools," or trapped mosquitoes that test positive for the virus, keep turning up. The health department has not said when it expects to confirm whether dengue was the cause of last week's death.

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