The Florida Department of Health (FLDOH) has reported more imported chikungunya and dengue fever cases during the past week, according the latest arbovirus data.
Twenty-two cases of chikungunya fever were reported this week in persons that had international travel. This brings the total for 2014 to 137 travel-associated cases. None out of 10 imported cases have been related to travel to Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
45 of the cases were reported from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties alone.
In addition, Florida reported two additional locally acquired cases from Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties, bringing that total to four in the state and nationally.
Concerning the related dengue fever virus, four cases were reported this week in persons that had international travel. In 2014, 37 travel-associated cases have been reported.
Florida has also seen several imported cases of the parasitic disease, malaria, also a mosquito borne disease. Thirty-one cases of malaria with onset in 2014 have been reported with 71 percent identified as Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe form of malaria.
There has not been any human cases of West Nile virus or Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) reported in the state; however, five horses with EEEV infection were reported this week in Clay, Columbia, Escambia and Marion Counties.
37 horses and two deer have tested positive for EEEV so far this year. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
