Two people have fallen ill with dengue fever in the Florida Keys after being bit by infected mosquitoes, prompting health officials to issue an alert for the island chain.
The alert comes just days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory warning of an increased risk of dengue infections in the country as cases surge globally.
Dengue fever can cause flu-like symptoms “with severe muscle aches and joint pain, fever, and sometimes a rash,” according to the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes spread dengue to people through bites.
The two confirmed dengue cases in the Keys were locally acquired, according to the mosquito-born illness alert issued Saturday by the…
