California last week clocked its fourth case of locally transmitted dengue fever this year — an alarming rise in a sometimes-deadly disease that experts fear could be fueled by climate change.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed the newest incidence of the mosquito-borne illness in a resident of Panorama City, a neighborhood in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. The department noted that the individual had not traveled to areas where dengue is endemic, and that the case appeared unrelated to three others, also locally acquired, that were reported in the county earlier this month.
“We are seeing the local transmission of dengue, which is unprecedented in Los Angeles County,” Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer, said in a statement.
While stressing that such cases of local spread are extremely rare in the region, county officials urged residents to be proactive in preventing mosquito bites and breeding.
Spread by certain types of mosquitoes, dengue is a tropical and subtropical viral infection relayed to humans through bites, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Although many infections have only mild, flu-like effects, the virus can also cause severe symptoms or even death.
The incidence of dengue has risen sharply in recent years, surging from 505,430 cases
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