Florida Keys Report First Dengue Cases in 10 Years

The Florida Keys is experiencing its first outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease Dengue fever in 10 years, The Miami Herald reports.

The Florida Department of Health Friday confirmed two more cases of the illness in the island chain, bringing the total number of cases to 16.

All the cases have been in about a two-mile area of Key Largo in the Upper Keys, according to the latest health department information.

The last time the Keys had a Dengue fever outbreak was 2010, said Alison Kerr, spokeswoman for the health department in Monroe County.

That year a total of 55 people contracted the illness, which is caused by the bite of a female Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same mosquito that caused the Zika outbreak in Miami in 2016. Male mosquitoes lack the ability to bite.

No one in the Keys has died from Dengue this year, and all who have gotten it so far are expected to make a full recovery, according to a health department press release.

But, the illness is potentially deadly and causes severe flu-like symptoms, including aches and pains, fever and sometimes a rash.

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District has upped its efforts to destroy the Aedes aegypti population in the area, including spreading more insecticide to kill both larvae and adults.

The outbreak coincides with renewed efforts from an international biotech company that wants to release millions of genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti bugs in the Keys as a way to eliminate the natural population.