Overview
- State surveillance reports through Sept. 26 show 252 locally acquired dengue cases in 2026, with 223 of those infections linked to Hillsborough County.
- Florida confirmed the outbreak’s first dengue-related death in mid-September, an 80-year-old Hillsborough resident whose death certificate listed dengue and multi-organ failure.
- Public-health lab testing and mosquito surveillance found multiple Aedes aegypti pools positive for dengue and PCR serotyping shows DENV-2 predominance among serotyped human cases.
- County officials have declared local emergencies, carried out tens of thousands of acres of aerial and ground treatments, accepted mutual aid from neighboring districts, and reported response costs rising past $6 million in Hillsborough.
- Researchers and health officials stress that Aedes aegypti often breed in small containers near homes, so residents are urged to remove standing water, use EPA-registered repellent, and wear protective clothing as authorities evaluate longer-term control options such as wolbachia or sterile‑male programs.