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Dengue fever comes to Florida

Dengue fever comes to Florida

Meanwhile, Florida officials now report 115 cases of locally acquired Zika.

In addition to the continuing spread of the Zika virus in the state, Florida is now contending with new cases of a tropical disease killer.

There are now reports that a second case of locally-transmitted dengue fever has been identified.

Health officials announced on Wednesday that they have detected a case of locally acquired dengue fever in Miami-Dade county, according to the Florida Health Department.

Dengue fever is a viral disease that is mainly spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads the Zika virus. The virus can cause flu-like symptoms and in rare cases can result in dangerous or deadly infections.

This is the second dengue fever case reported in the state this year, according to the Florida Health Department. One other dengue fever case was reported in Key West in June. That island battled an outbreak of dengue fever from 2009 to 2010.

Readers will recall that our report on the state of Hawaii declaring a “dengue fever emergency” earlier this year. One of the state’s suffers says it was the most pain she had ever experienced:

It’s battle with the pathogen was not helped by the “green” attitude of some of its citizens.

On Old Ways Farm, organic farmer Steve Mann tends to his herbs with mosquito netting dangling from his straw hat. Neighbors have been infected with dengue, but Mann was concerned about the type of pesticide, Aqua-Reslin, that the state used to combat the outbreak.

“It’s not organic, and that would cancel our certification for a period of three years,” Mann said. “That might well put us out of business.”

Happily, the outbreaks in Hawaii appear to be contained...at least for the time being.

Currently, vector control is the only practical way to prevent the disease. There is only one vaccine for dengue fever currently available, and the newly developed product has only been approved for use in Mexico, the Philippines, and Brazil.

In terms of the battle against Zika, Florida now reports 700 travel-related cases and 115 acquired through local transmission. Health officials urge people to take specific protective measures:

Experts continue to stress that the best way to protect yourself is to wear mosquito repellent, empty large and small standing sources of water around your home, and have protected sex if you’re at a child-bearing age and worried about exposure to Zika.

Congress recently approved over $1 billion to fight Zika. Needless to say, government officials are itching to spend the money.

Most of the newly approved Zika funding, $933 million, is for efforts to control Zika’s spread in the United States. The money will go for mosquito control and surveillance, vaccine development and studies to understand the virus’s impact on the fetus, children and adults. The CDC will receive $394 million, much of which will likely go to localities on the front line.

On October 6th, I will be interviewing a colleague who is a biosafety expert on Canto Talk about the status of the global Zika epidemic. Among the topics that will be covered are the real risks associated with Zika infection and sensible protective measures that can be taken by individuals.

I hope you can join us!

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Comments

Under Comrade Leader Obama we are on a fast track to Third World Country status.
Anyone still has a doubt?

    Old0311 in reply to Exiliado. | October 2, 2016 at 11:24 am

    It is just an added convenience for his supporters who cannot take time out from rioting to visit a third world nation.

    OnlyRightDissentAllowed in reply to Exiliado. | October 2, 2016 at 8:48 pm

    Under fascist McConnell we are on fast track to Third World Country climate. The mosquitoes are part of the Welcome Wagon.

…government officials are itching to pi** away the money.

Lets get it right here, government is the model of wasteful spending and fascism. Government NEVER admits they were wrong either. DDT and this outbreak of mosquito born disease would be nonexistent.

OK, Leslie, you MIGHT want to change the aspect-ratio on that thermometer you have in the graphic.

As it is, it’s pretty obscene. (Think the final sequence in “High Anxiety”).

Jes’ sayin’…

empty large and small standing sources of water around your home

In much of the US you can’t do anything about standing water if it’s sitting on the ground, because it’s a “wetland” and legally inviolate.

The mosquito is an efficient and well-designed little bugger, but his life cycle has several vulnerable points. One is that the newly hatched larvae need access to the water/air interface. It was found over a century ago that a thin film of oil on the water prevents the larvae from turning into the annoying adult form. But if you think the whining about insecticides is bad, just wait for the howling and wholesale gnashing of teeth when someone suggests that we start spreading a little oil on American’s thousands of square miles of stagnant water.

Like all the most intractable problems, it’s not so much medical, technical, organizational, or financial in nature, but rather legal and social.

    OnlyRightDissentAllowed in reply to tom swift. | October 2, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    ‘standing water if it’s sitting on the ground, because it’s a “wetland”’ Your ignorance of what a wetland is explains a lot.

    Besides the Aedes aegypti doesn’t need more than a cap full of water. It does need a warm climate. The red states had better smarten up. If they keep denying the truth, they are gong to get very sick.

      I have a low-lying swamp area on my land which forms into a stagnant pond whenever we get a big rain. It’s a designated wetland, and as such, I’m not allowed to fill it. But we have a very pro-active Mosquito Control Board here, and they’ve been out to spray it twice now.

      We’re not science-deniers here in my very-red county. We know that wetlands and stagnant water breed mosquitos. We also know that there are technologies which prevent them from breeding, and we’re not afraid to use them.

      What the dictionary definition of a wetland is and what the power grabbing EPA describe as wetlands are two very different things.

As Glenn Reynolds keeps says, bring back DDT.

I understand there is a medication used for tapeworm infections which is effective against zika and is considered safe for pregnant women.

Obama is the gift that just keeps on giving.
( Probably for the rest of our lives )
Yeah, blame the mosquito, or a film-maker…
We all know it was a Democrat.
Thankfully, we dodged the Ebola, but that was sheer luck.
Well…. lets see here.
As previously noted, DDT works great.
Controlled borders would help, and all International visitors should be required a current health fitness certification, or sit it out in quarantine for a while..
Try taking your dog to Hawaii.
Just a bit of common sense.
But, I suppose I will be admonished…

Mister Natural | October 3, 2016 at 8:55 am

ACHES AND PAINS, HUH? What you really need to know about DENGUE is that it is known, in layman’s terms, as
“BREAKBONE FEVER”
Thanks Obama. You’re the gift that keeps on giving