Florida's outbreak of dengue fever spread by local mosquitoes is the largest in several decades of any U.S. state, the Associated Press reported. State health officials said this week that nearly 300 locally acquired cases have been counted so far this year.

The statewide total reached 298 after the state confirmed two new cases in the Apopka area of Orange County, which county officials announced Oct. 12, Florida Today reported. The previous record in Florida was 199 cases in 2023, it said.

Most cases are in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, both the AP and WUSF reported. WUSF said the county had 259 confirmed cases, citing a state Department of Health update. Pinellas County had 20.

Available data suggest it is the most cases in a calendar year for any state since at least the 1940s, the AP said.

"We do still have ongoing transmission," said Carla Fry, the health officer for Hillsborough County, WUSF reported. "We're getting cases ... each and every day."

Health officials think the real number is higher, because many infected people never show symptoms, WUSF said. Some people get fever, flu-like symptoms and severe aches, the AP reported. Dengue has been nicknamed "breakbone fever" for the pain it can cause.

There has been one dengue death in Florida this year, an elderly Tampa woman, the AP said. WUSF reported she was 80 and was bitten near her South Tampa home.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties have declared local emergencies, WUSF said. Workers in the Tampa area are spraying day and night to cut the number of mosquitoes, the AP reported.

The mosquitoes that spread dengue live in Florida, and experts say they have been spreading to new areas because of climate change, the AP said. The surge may be partly linked to travel, a Tulane University expert told the AP.

What we know: Florida has nearly 300 local dengue cases this year, most around Tampa.
What we don't: When the outbreak will slow.