Pasco County Declares Emergency as Dengue Cases Reach Wesley Chapel

Pasco County commissioners declared a local state of emergency on Sept. 23 to fight dengue fever, and one of the county's two confirmed cases is in Wesley Chapel. The other is in Hudson, according to Florida Department of Health data.

The declaration, issued by the Pasco Board of County Commissioners, lasts seven days unless commissioners extend or end it early. It gives the county administrator and the emergency management director the power to waive normal purchasing and procedural rules so mosquito control crews and health officials can move faster.

Pasco is now formally assisting the Pasco County Mosquito Control District and the Florida Department of Health in Pasco County, both of which had already been running an elevated response before the emergency declaration made it official.

Why Wesley Chapel is on alert

Pasco's case count is small compared to next door. Hillsborough County has logged more than 130 dengue infections, 88% of all cases statewide, and recorded the state's first dengue-related death this month. Pinellas County has seven cases. Statewide, Florida health officials have reported 41 locally acquired cases in recent weeks, including 30 in Hillsborough, three in Pinellas, one in Citrus and two in Pasco.

Tampa General Hospital says it has treated more than 100 dengue patients. Adrian Rodgers, executive director of the Pasco County Mosquito Control District, has called the outbreak a regional public health concern and said the entire Tampa Bay area, not just the counties with confirmed cases, should be on alert. The district says it has additional suspected cases in Pasco under investigation beyond the two confirmed infections.

Wesley Chapel sits close enough to the Hillsborough line that mosquitoes and the people who carry the virus move freely between the two counties. Rodgers has pointed out that the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads dengue isn't a strong flier and doesn't range far from where it hatches. It stays close to homes and yards, feeding low, often around the ankles, during the day rather than at dusk.

What "break-bone fever" feels like

Doctors call dengue "break-bone fever" for a reason. Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi, chief hospital epidemiology officer at Tampa General Hospital, said the body aches are severe enough that they're usually what brings patients into the emergency room. Common symptoms include intense joint, bone and muscle pain, nausea, and pain behind the eyes.

About one in four people who are infected develop noticeable illness, and roughly one in 20 of those symptomatic cases turns severe. The danger window isn't necessarily at the fever's peak. Cherabuddi said the riskiest stretch is the two days after the fever starts to break, when warning signs like severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding from the gums, or difficulty breathing can signal the illness has turned serious. Anyone with those symptoms should go to the emergency room, he said.

Mosquito control crews have already stepped up spraying in the area, adding truck routes and using helicopters to treat larger tracts of land. The county has not said whether the emergency declaration will be extended past its initial seven days, and health officials continue to investigate additional suspected cases in Pasco that have not yet been confirmed.

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Header photo: James Gathany / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)