TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health released new numbers Friday on dengue fever cases in the state, and figures show that Hillsborough County is still the epicenter of this historic outbreak.
As of Sept. 26, there have been more than 200 cases recorded in the county.
Watch report from Lauren St Germain
Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain covers medical stories and has been following this outbreak. St. Germain wanted to get a sense of what our local hospitals are seeing when it comes to dengue, so she spoke with an infectious disease physician at Tampa General Hospital.
Dr. Kartikeya Cherabuddi told St. Germain they continue to have daily cases of dengue coming into the emergency department.
"Very mild cases don’t come to the hospital, so what we are seeing is more mild to moderate cases. A few severe cases, mostly moderate, and people are recovering after a couple of days, 7 to 8 days generally. The longest we've had is about 12 days someone stayed with us in the hospital," Dr. Kartikeya Cherabuddi.
St. Germain also asked about this outbreak from a health care provider standpoint.
"For hospitals and physicians, it was a lot of upskilling and learning how to manage this because many of us have never taken care of a case of dengue, diagnostics as well. Many hospitals and clinics did not have the right diagnostics …the public health & dept of health have done a tremendous job but thankfully TGH had a good test we were able to deploy quickly and help with a lot of diagnosis for the Tampa Bay area," Cherabuddi said.
"What do you guys do for someone who comes in and tests positive?" asked St. Germain.
"One, we want them to have the right amount of hydration. Often, it’s too little. At one stage of dengue, it’s too much, so you want to keep the fluid levels well maintained. The second issue tends to be platelets, so platelets can fall, and if you don’t have the right amount, then you can bleed into different spaces in the body, and that can create an issue. Fluids and platelets are the two predominant things," Cherabuddi said.
According to the CDC, 1 in 4 people infected with dengue will get sick and mild symptoms can often be confused with other flu-like illnesses.
