Florida Declares Dengue Emergencies as Bronx Legionnaires Cluster and Nationwide Measles Cases Top 3,600

Tampa Bay's dengue surge

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties are under local states of emergency over a dengue fever outbreak that Hillsborough County spokesperson Chris Wilkerson called "wildly unusual" in comments to the Associated Press, carried by ABC News.

The Florida Department of Health's most recent count, reported to Northeastern Global News, put the 2026 total at 190 locally acquired cases across six counties as of September 24, with 170 of those in Hillsborough County alone, according to the Daily Wire. That's on top of 212 travel-associated cases and virus detections in 17 mosquito pools statewide.

One person has died: an 80-year-old Tampa woman who passed away on her birthday, September 4, and whose death the state confirmed on September 18, according to the Tampa Bay Times as reported by the Englewood Review. Some earlier reporting, including the Englewood Review's own reference to "152 locally acquired cases" and "over 130" in Hillsborough, reflects an earlier snapshot of the data before the state's September 24 update pushed the statewide total to 190.

The 190-case total is more than triple last year's number. Florida logged just 62 locally acquired dengue cases in all of 2025, according to the New York Post, cited by WLT Report. That makes 2026 the state's second-highest annual total on record.

Hillsborough County Administrator Bonnie Wise signed the county's emergency order on September 24, which under state rules can run for seven days unless extended or rescinded, according to WLT Report. The declaration lets the county fast-track mosquito-control spending, skip some routine procurement steps, and seek reimbursement for emergency costs. Crews are running aerial and ground pesticide treatments in affected neighborhoods, and Pinellas County has waived residential tire-disposal fees, since old tires are a favorite mosquito breeding spot, according to WFLA reporting cited by WLT Report.

Emergency declarations that unlock faster spending and skip normal procurement rules deserve scrutiny. With only one death confirmed, the fiscal question is fair. But the mechanism at issue is standard local mosquito-abatement authority, not some novel expansion of government power, and it comes with a built-in seven-day expiration unless county commissioners formally renew it. Residents can also track exactly where treatments are happening through the county's public treatment map.

Dengue doesn't spread person to person. It needs a mosquito to bite an infected person, incubate the virus for about a week, and then bite someone else, according to Michael Johansson, a Northeastern University public health researcher who has studied dengue for two decades. He told Northeastern Global News the locally acquired case count is "clearly elevated" for the Tampa Bay area compared to the past decade, while travel-associated cases remain in a normal range. Florida is home to both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus, he said. "Not all mosquitos carry dengue, but we know the right ones are there. All the ingredients are there."

Recent mosquito testing in the affected area has come back negative for the virus, suggesting infected females aren't passing dengue to their offspring, according to the Daily Wire. That has officials hopeful the current outbreak could taper off on its own.

But nobody's calling this a one-time event. "I do think it's going to be somewhat the new normal," University of Florida environmental and global health professor Michael von Fricken told the AP. Continental U.S. transmission of dengue is a relatively recent phenomenon. Key West saw the first locally acquired cases outside Texas since 1945 back in 2009-2010, according to the Englewood Review.

A second Legionnaires cluster in New York City

While Florida fights mosquitoes, New York City is fighting bacteria in cooling towers. City health officials launched an investigation into a Legionnaires' disease cluster in the Melrose and Morrisania sections of the South Bronx, in ZIP codes 10451 and 10456, according to the Guardian.

Five confirmed cases have been tied to the cluster and one person has died, city health commissioner Alister F. Martin said in a statement reported by the Guardian. Cooling tower sampling in the area is complete and testing is underway at the city's public health laboratory. Building owners whose towers test positive are required to drain, clean and disinfect them.

This is the second community Legionnaires cluster identified in New York City in recent months, after an Upper East Side cluster that the city had only recently declared over, according to the Guardian. Martin said community health workers are canvassing the neighborhood and urged anyone who lived, worked or visited the area since late August with flu-like symptoms to see a doctor. Legionnaires' is not contagious between people and is treatable with antibiotics when caught early. The city says tap water, showers and air conditioners remain safe to use absent other guidance.

Measles keeps climbing nationally

Separately, the CDC's national measles tracker shows 3,659 confirmed cases reported across 47 jurisdictions in 2026 as of September 24, according to the agency's own data, updated September 25. That's already well above the 2,289 confirmed cases for the entirety of 2025, which itself was reported across 45 jurisdictions.

The share of cases tied to identifiable outbreaks has also grown: 95% of this year's cases (3,478 of 3,659) are outbreak-associated, compared with 90% in 2025 and just 69% in 2024, per the CDC. The agency logged 40 new outbreaks in 2026 alone, plus lingering cases from outbreaks that began in 2025. Seventeen of this year's cases were traced to international visitors.

The CDC notes its public figures reflect only confirmed cases. The agency says it is aware of additional probable cases being reported by individual jurisdictions that aren't yet reflected in the national total.

Local and federal health authorities in Florida, New York and nationally are all managing active, named outbreaks as of this week, with mosquito-testing results in Tampa Bay and cooling-tower lab results in the Bronx representing the two most immediate open questions.