Miami, FL, United States (AHN) – Federal health officials are worried a recent spate of dengue fever cases in Key West will spread throughout Florida.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that an estimated 5 percent of the population of Key West – about 1,000 people – showed evidence of exposure to the mosquito-borne illness in 2009. Since the end of June, there have been 12 other cases of dengue reported in the area.

“We’re concerned that if dengue gains a foothold in Key West, it will travel to other southern cities where the mosquito that transmits dengue is present, like Miami,” Harold Margolis, the chief of the dengue branch of the CDC, said in a statement.

Dengue is the most common virus transmitted by mosquitoes in the world, according to the CDC. Between 50 million and 100 million people are infected every year, and it causes about 25,000 deaths.

The Key West cases are alarming health officials because there has not been a reported outbreak in Florida since 1934. Between 1946 and 1980, no cases of the disease were acquired in the United States.

Since 1980, the only cases of dengue were on the Texas/Mexico border, and they coincided with large outbreaks in Mexican cities. But the recent cases in Key West happened to people who have not traveled outside the state.

“These cases represent the reemergence of dengue fever in Florida and elsewhere in the United States after 75 years,” Margolis said.

The CDC is recommending that South Floridians wear mosquito repellent on their skin when outdoors, and if possible, to wear long sleeves and pants.

According to the CDC, principal symptoms of dengue fever are high fever, severe headache, severe pain behind the eyes, joint pain, muscle and bone pain, rash, and mild bleeding from the nose or gums. Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

For more information, go to www.cdc.gov/dengue

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