WEDNESDAY, July 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Health officials in the Florida Keys have issued a dengue fever alert after two confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne disease were reported there. In the , issued this week by the Monroe County Department of Health, officials said they were taking precautions to curb the spread of dengue fever. Those measures include stepping up door-to-door mosquito inspections; enhancing mosquito surveillance; spraying aerial mosquito treatments as necessary; and driving through neighborhoods and spraying mosquito treatments from trucks as needed.
But the threat of dengue fever is not limited to Florida: Just last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the increased risk of dengue fever infections in the United States.
Puerto Rico has been the hardest hit: Of the 2,241 U.S. dengue cases reported so far this year, 1,498 occurred in that U.
S. territory in the Caribbean. In March, a was declared there after cases of the mosquito-born illness broke historical records.
For comparison, were reported in all of 2023 in the U.S. and its territories.
Internationally, the incidence of dengue fever has been the highest on record this year, , where more than 9.7 million dengue cases have been reported so far. That’s twice as many as in all of 2023 (4.
6 million cases). Why the spike? Many nations have reported increasingly hot temperatures, which create ideal breeding conditions for the mosquitoes that spread dengue. "Dengue transmiss.