Another outbreak in the Florida Keys. County reports 8 new cases of dengue fever

Eight new cases of dengue fever have been confirmed in the Upper Florida Keys, the state health department said Friday.

The patients received medical attention and are expected to make full recoveries.

This makes 10 reported cases of dengue so far in the Keys this year, according to the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County.

All of the infections were in the Key Largo area and locally acquired.

The health department said it is doing epidemiological studies to determine the origin and extent of the infections.

DOH Monroe is also working with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which has intensified its mosquito control activities in the Key Largo area.

“We’re in constant communication with mosquito control,” said Bob Eadie, administrator of the Department of Health in Monroe County.

Dengue can present as a severe flu-like illness with severe muscle aches and pain, fever and sometimes a rash.

Usually, there are no respiratory symptoms. Symptoms of dengue will appear within 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

Dengue fever is not contagious but is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito.

“It’s the house mosquito,” Eadie said. “You get enough mosquitoes and enough people and we get an outbreak.”

The emergence of these dengue cases reinforces the importance for the public to prevent insect bites and to take basic precautions to help limit exposure, the health department said Friday.

These measures include intact windows and screens and the use of air conditioning, keeping the area around your residence free from containers that collect water, wearing protective clothing, and the appropriate use of insect repellents.

The Florida Keys are one step closer to getting genetically modified mosquitoes