The Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) in Arizona this week reported a dengue infection in someone who was probably exposed to an infected mosquito in Maricopa County.
Mosquito surveillance has detected dengue virus in a mosquito trap in one of the county's neighborhood, the MCDPH said in a Nov 14 press release.
Health officials are distributing free at-home blood tests in the neighborhood and are looking for more virus in mosquito traps in the rest of the county. The county is stepping up efforts to educate people on how to prevent the disease.
The case appears to be the first locally acquired dengue infection in Maricopa County. All earlier infections had been linked to international travel. Also, the case appears to be the first local dengue infection on the US mainland outside of Florida, which has reported 41 such cases this year, according to the latest arbovirus surveillance report from the Florida Department of Health.
In its background information, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said most outbreaks in the United States have been small and limited, but the types of mosquitoes that spread the virus are in many parts of the country, posing a risk of local spread