Health officials have come across the dengue virus in Florida while testing for the zika virus, which is a dangerous relative of the latter. While the zika virus mostly associated with horrible birth defects in fetuses, the dengue virus can cause deadly hemorrhagic fevers.
This is now the second case of dengue in Florida this year, and the first case where someone caught it in Miami. The virus is transmitted by mosquitos just like zika is, and there are different tests to tell the difference between the similar viruses and a third similar illness called chikungunya.
The Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez spoke out about all the testing and information that has been going on.
“The Department of Health instructed the County, on multiple occasions, to withhold information related to the exact location of the Zika-positive mosquito traps. Now that the County has been granted permission—via an email from the Florida Surgeon General—to release this information, we are releasing the addresses. This will be our protocol going forward: We will disclose the locations of any such traps that test positive for Zika to both the property owner and to anyone else who inquires.”
