By this point, it’s pretty well known that Florida is currently considered one of the biggest hot spots in the United States for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. According to the Florida Department of Health (DOH), we’re up to nearly 250,000 cases, haven’t had less than 5,000 new cases in a single day since mid-June, and have suffered over 4000 deaths since the pandemic began.
If our plethora of COVID-19 wasn’t reason enough where I’d suggest to not visit the Sunshine State right now, we now have one more.
Dengue fever. Eleven cases of it, so far.
Yep. Can you believe it?
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that occurs in tropical and subtropical areas [*cough* like Florida *cough*].
The disease is contracted through the bite of a female Aedes aegypti mosquito, a species that’s considered invasive. That particular species is the one that been known to give us goodies such as yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika virus.
Nicknamed “breakbone fever” because of the severe pain the disease causes, symptoms usually appear about 10 to 14 days after being bitten and include high fever, rash, and severe muscle and joint pain. In severe cases, there can be serious bleeding and shock, both of which can be life-threatening. People who become infected with the virus a second time are at a much higher risk of developing severe disease. Dengue fever is not contagious.
Anyway, all eleven cases have been in Key Largo, which is the northernmost key of the Florida Keys. It’s about 60 miles south of Miami.
Health officials are currently, “conducting epidemiological studies to determine the origin and extent of these infections” and believe all cases were acquired locally, as per Alison Kerr, a Florida Keys spokesperson who spoke
to the Miami Herald.
According to spokesperson Chad Huff workers from the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District are targeting adult mosquitoes and larvae, utilizing helicopters and trucks.
To help decrease the spread, officials are asking local residents to remove possible mosquito breeding grounds (typically anything outside that would contain standing water).
Treatment includes fluids and pain-relievers. Severe cases require hospital care. The cases recently found in Key Largo have all been successfully treated.
This isn’t the first time Southern Florida has had to deal with dengue fever. In fact, it’s become something of a near-annual event since around
2009 or so. Before that, it hadn’t been detected in the area in about 40 years. But still…to have to worry about that, on top of coronavirus? Oh, and don’t forget the case of brain-eating amoeba that was
recently confirmed in Florida, too. Not cool, Mother Nature. Not cool at all.
But yeah…just avoid Florida right now.
*** Feature Photo: U.S. Army Illustrations
#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands #wearamask
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