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Florida Confirms Dengue Fever Death Amid One of Its Worst Outbreaks in Decades
Hillsborough County accounts for 134 of Florida’s 152 locally acquired dengue cases, and officials say recent mosquito sampling has not found the virus.
- On Friday, The Florida Department of Health confirmed the state's first dengue fever death of 2026, involving an 80-year-old Hillsborough County woman who died September 4 from septic shock and organ failure.
- Warm weather and rainfall have spurred Aedes aegypti mosquito breeding across the region, with Hillsborough County reporting 134 locally acquired cases—a caseload spokesperson Chris Wilkerson called "wildly unusual."
- The CDC lists older adults among groups at higher risk for severe dengue, with warning signs including severe stomach pain and persistent vomiting that may appear as fever falls, requiring emergency care.
- Hillsborough County Mosquito Management officials report zero positive testing pools in the two most recent weeks, suggesting transmission may be waning, though residents are urged to continue using EPA-registered insect repellent.
- University of Florida researcher Michael Fricken warns the recurring abundance of dengue-carrying mosquitoes makes the threat unlikely to fade in Florida, stating, "I do think it's going to be somewhat the new normal.
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13 Articles
13 Articles
By Andrés Henao, CNN The Florida Department of Health confirmed on September 18, 2026 that the death of an elderly woman on September 4 was due to dengue fever. This is the first confirmed death in a larger dengue outbreak in Hillsborough County, where dengue fever has occurred.
·Idaho Falls, United States
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Total News Sources13
Leaning Left0Leaning Right0Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution100% Center
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