Palm Beach County records 13 cases amid global surge

With record numbers of dengue virus infections worldwide and more than double the number of infections with the virus in South and Central America last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning health care providers and the public about the mosquito-borne disease. Palm Beach County has recorded 13 cases of the disease this year.

While this does not mean that an outbreak is occurring here, experts say the cases should remind residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites.

Palm Beach County and Florida health officials did not respond to requests for information on the timing of case counts.

More:Twenty years ago, Palm Beach County was ground zero of a malaria outbreak

Most infected outside the USA

Like most dengue cases reported in the continental United States, the cases counted in this county this year were all people who had become infected elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean transmission can’t occur here.

This year, five locally transmitted cases were recorded in Miami-Dade County. Of the 34,350 locally transmitted dengue cases recorded between 2010 and 2023 in all 50 states and five U.S. territories, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands, five occurred in Palm Beach County.

Local transmission “something we will see much more often”

“Although it’s less likely, it’s still possible,” said Dr. Kitonga Kiminyo, a Boynton Beach infectious disease doctor. With temperatures rising, he added, “we’re going to see this sort of thing a lot more often. We’re dealing with a bad weather pattern here.”

In Florida, he notes, it is not only hot but also humid, providing mosquitoes with plenty of breeding grounds.

The disease is spread when a mosquito bites an infected person and then bites other people. This means that local transmission can occur where the Aedes Mosquitoes are found, the species that can transmit and spread the disease, as well as people infected with the virus.

“As the number of mosquitoes increases, the likelihood of being bitten also increases,” says Kiminyo.

He strongly recommends that patients use mosquito repellent, wear clothing that covers arms and legs, and drain standing water.

Dengue disease was “worse than childbirth”

Although many people infected with dengue remain asymptomatic, the disease – also known as “breakbone fever” – can be fatal. It can also have devastating consequences.

Marty Seyler of West Palm Beach has experienced it twice, first while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica and then while working for the International Rescue Committee in Thailand.

The onset of the disease was signaled by a raging headache, followed by fever, chills, joint pain and burning eyes.

“It was torture,” she says today. “Worse than giving birth.”

The dehydrating effects of the disease also left her in a state of fog. What she does remember, however, is a feeling of almost total helplessness and pain that was difficult to relieve with the available medication.

She now focuses on protecting herself from mosquito bites, emptying standing water where she sees it and staying covered during the rainy season.

Antigone Barton is a reporter for The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected]. Support our work: Subscribe today.

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