Harris County dengue cases: Health officials announce human case of mosquito-borne illness

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — If you’ve spent any time outside in the past few months, you know that mosquitoes are also out. Most of the time they are just a nuisance, but it is important to remember that they can also carry dangerous diseases.

Harris County Public Health is aware of a case of a mosquito-borne illness called dengue. They could not speak specifically about the case but indicated that this person had recently traveled.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, up to 400 million people are infected with the dengue virus each year.

Sometimes there are no symptoms, but dengue fever can send you to the hospital.

The most common symptoms are body aches, nausea, vomiting and a rash. Most people recover after about a week, but severe cases can lead to hemorrhaging or even death.

“Just to be clear on the prevalence in our area, since 2023 there have only been a handful of cases,” said Dr. Ericka Brown with HCPH. “All of these cases are linked to travel outside the United States to tropical areas. That doesn’t mean we don’t have them here. We encounter mosquitoes that carry the virus. It comes from the bite of ‘one person and pass it on to another person, but, in general, the risk is quite low’.

Last week, the county found a mosquito testing positive for West Nile for the first time this year in the 77019 ZIP code.