Dengue Fever On the Rise in Miami-Dade County

Close up of a Aedes aegypti mosquito. Key Biscayne is under alert for the mosquito-borne disease dengue fever. (Adobe)

With two more locally-transmitted cases confirmed last week, dengue fever is the latest tropical disease to threaten Floridians. Both cases are Miami-Dade County residents, bringing the total to 10 so far this year and triggering a countywide Florida Department of Health alert.

“It’s unusual,” said Alvaro Mejia-Echeverry, Medical Epidemiologist for the FDOH in Miami. “The number of cases is increasing.”

Although the FDOH cannot confirm the exact location of the infections, Mejia-Echeverry said the 10 cases in Miami-Dade are all thought to be related to previous local cases. This means a local mosquito bit someone carrying the disease, and then passed it on to another person – whereas in imported cases, the person was bitten abroad and returned to the United States. Those are “close to 150 so far this year,” according to Mejia-Echeverry.

“This is a new factor for the community to be aware of,” he said. “You may not travel – but someone does the traveling for you.” 

Once considered eradicated from the Unites States, dengue is a mosquito-borne illness that causes around 400 million infections and 22,000 deaths worldwide annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control – mostly in poorer tropical countries. 

There are four strains of the disease, meaning a person can be affected up to four times in their lifetime. 

Most people infected have mild or no symptoms, but those who fall ill recover in around a week according to the FDOH. Symptoms are fever with one or more of a list of accompanying ailments ranging from eye pain to hemorrhaging in severe cases. More likely the infection will be incapacitating and may require hospitalization for recovery, said Mejia-Echeverry. 

The mosquito – known as the vector – that carries the disease is part of the Aedes family. It is the same vector for both Zika virus (which affected Florida in 2016) and chikungunya. According to the DOH a person can be infected by dengue and chikungunya at the same time. 

“As long as we report local cases that means the vector is right here, it is not eradicated – even though the control program is very effective,” said Mejia-Echeverry. “There is no way to fight them totally.”

According to the CDC, dengue is prevalent in many Caribbean, Central American and South American countries, where it is classified as a ‘frequent/continuous’ outbreak or infection. Eight of the top 10 international destinations from Miami International Airport were within these regions, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

“We don’t consider it will be an epidemic as the environment here is not really conducive to that,” said Mejia-Echeverry, “but we can have little clusters here and there.” 

Key Biscayne Fire-Rescue Chief Eric Lang shared the official DOH advice and encourages all residents to read and act upon it. 

“Don’t ignore it!” says Mejia-Echeverry. 

His key advice was to drain and cover – drain any standing water from every possible receptacle such as boats, gutters and even leaves in the garden, which can hold enough water to breed mosquitos. Cover your body in clothing and repellant and your home in screens, and ensure your air conditioning is working well. 

For more information see: 

http://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/insect/#searchform.