Gay Small turned 80 on September 4. That day she passed away at Tampa General Hospital. A mosquito bite close to her house on Bayshore Boulevard, in Tampa, had caused her to get dengue fever, and her body was not able to beat it. The death certificate shows three reasons: dengue infection, septic shock, and multi-organ failure.
The Florida Department of Health confirmed her death last week, calling it the first dengue death recorded in the Tampa Bay area in almost 100 years and the first one in Florida this year.
There’s a hard irony in Small’s story. Her late husband, Bob, spent his career researching dengue vaccines, trying to stop the very disease that would later kill his wife.
Why Dengue Cases Are Surging Across Florida Right Now
Dengue isn’t new to Florida. But it’s usually a travel disease something people catch overseas and bring home with them. This year has been different. Since July, Hillsborough County has seen an outbreak of dengue-carrying mosquitoes that didn’t come from anywhere else. People are catching it right where they live.
The numbers back that up. As of mid-September, Florida has recorded 152 locally acquired dengue cases this year. Hillsborough County alone accounts for 134 of them, about 9 out of every 10 cases in the whole state. Compare that to the past decade: Hillsborough had only two locally acquired cases total between 2015 and 2025.
“This is wildly unusual for us,” said Chris Wilkerson, a spokesperson for the county.
Other counties have seen smaller outbreaks too. Miami-Dade and Pinellas each have seven cases. Pasco has two. Orange and Palm Beach have one apiece.
How Dengue Spreads, and Why It’s So Hard to Catch Early
Dengue is spread by two types of mosquitoes. Aedes. Aedes albopictus. That grows in warm and wet weather. Specialists say Florida’s recent period of heat and lots of rain has created perfect places for these mosquitoes to multiply. There is a lot of water where they can lay eggs.
That is one reason why dengue’s hard to deal with. About one out of four people who get the virus show any signs. When signs do happen, they usually start within two weeks after the bite. The signs can be fever, pain in the body, feeling sick, and a skin rash. Most people feel better within a week.
The big problem happens when someone gets infected a time. People who had dengue before are more likely to get very sick the next time. The sickness can include issues, like the failure of organs. This is what eventually led to the death of Small. Her family thinks she was infected a long time ago when she was traveling, but she never knew it.
Climate Change and Florida’s New Normal
There’s a bit of good news. Mosquito control teams in Hillsborough County have been testing mosquito samples regularly, and recent tests haven’t turned up the virus. That’s an early sign the outbreak may be losing steam for now.
But researchers warn this isn’t a one-time event tied to climate change. Michael von Fricken, a public health professor at the University of Florida, said he expects dengue to become a regular part of life in the state. “I do think it is going to become somewhat a new normal,” he said. As the climate grows warmer, the mosquitoes that carry dengue can. Spread into more places than before.
What People Can Do to Stay Safe
Health officials say the best protection is preventing bites in the first place. That means:
Wearing long sleeves and pants when outside, especially at dawn and dusk
Using Insect Repellent On Skin And Clothing
Removing standing water around homes buckets, flowerpots, gutters, anything that collects rainwater since that’s where these mosquitoes lay their eggs
Local mosquito control agencies across Florida have also increased spraying and inspections in response to the outbreak. For now, Small’s family is left with a painful irony and a loss they didn’t see coming. Her daughter, Anna, put it simply after seeing the state confirm the cause of death: So I guess that means the state agrees she died of dengue.
