A Panorama City resident has been confirmed with a rare locally acquired case of the mosquito-borne illness dengue, making him the fourth person in the county with the virus this year, public health officials said Wednesday.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the latest case is unrelated to the three previous infections, which all occurred in a cluster in the Baldwin Park area.
None of the local patients had any history of travel to areas where dengue is endemic. Last week, public health officials called the cluster of three cases in Baldwin Park “unprecedented.”
In October and November of last year, single locally acquired cases of dengue were confirmed by health officials in Pasadena and Long Beach.
“These cases of local transmission are extremely rare in L.A. County and residents are urged to take proactive steps to prevent mosquito breeding and mosquito bites,” county Public Health officials said in a statement Wednesday.
Dengue is generally spread by a bite from an infected Aedes mosquito. Most patients never exhibit any symptoms, but one in four will develop signs including fever, nausea, vomiting, rash and aches and pains to the eyes, joints or bones.
The symptoms generally last no more than a week, and people usually fully recover within two weeks. Deaths from the virus are extremely rare, health officials said.
Health officials noted that the symptoms of dengue often mirror those of other viruses, and they urged health-care providers to be “vigilant for dengue fever in patients with acute febrile illness and test for and report such cases of mosquito-borne diseases.”
“We are seeing the local transmission of dengue, which is unprecedented in Los Angeles County. Preventing mosquito bites and mosquito breeding is the best way stop the ongoing local transmission of dengue,” Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer, said in a statement. “Using insect repellent to prevent mosquito bites, eliminating items that hold standing water around your home where mosquitoes can breed, and using or fixing screens on your doors and windows to keep mosquitoes out of the home are simple steps everyone can take to significantly reduce the risk of mosquito-borne disease for both you and your neighbors.”