Puerto Rico declares dengue fever epidemic amid alarming surge of 'bone ... trends now
Health officials in Puerto Rico have declared an epidemic after an alarming surge of cases of 'bone-breaking' disease.
The US territory has recorded at least 549 cases of dengue fever this year, and more than 340 have been hospitalized.
The health department warned that this is a 140 percent spike from this time last year and nearly half of those reported for all of 2023.
More than 40 percent of the cases Puerto Rico's dengue cases have been concentrated in the capital of San Juan, which has nearly 350,000 residents.
The epidemic comes amid ferocious outbreaks in South American countries like Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, and Argentina, with officials in Brazil likening it to the darkest days of Covid.
Health officials have not released travel guidance, though the surge does come amid peak tourist season in Puerto Rico.
The CDC's latest data on Puerto Rico only goes to 2016, but health officials have announced that the territory has seen 549 cases of dengue this year
The epidemic comes amid peak tourism season, which runs from December through April
Epidemiologists blame the global rise in temperatures, which allows the mosquito which carries the virus to live longer and thrive across a wider swathe of territory.
Puerto Rico Health Secretary Carlos Mellado Lopez wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'The increase in dengue cases requires that all components of society join forces in order to prevent the contagion and spread of this virus, which is why we call for prevention.'
In 2023, the territory reported 1,293 cases of dengue fever, whereas 2024 alone has already seen 42 percent of that number.
Florida has seen two cases of local transmission this year, meaning that patients caught the disease without traveling outside of the country. No other states have identified cases.
Last year, the Sunshine State identified 601 travel-associated and 61 locally
