CDC Adds Five Countries to Dengue Travel Notice

Florida's local dengue outbreak has reached 524 cases and one death this year, as federal health officials expand travel warnings.

Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Diseases — General

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of an oversized mosquito silhouette in crimson with striped legs, centered on a pale ochre field with a faint spray-mist arc. — Florida's dengue fever outbreak has reached 524 locally acquired cases and one death this year, as the CDC adds five countries to its travel notice list. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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The CDC added Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Chad to its dengue fever travel notice list, which now covers countries under a level 1 alert. Florida has recorded 906 dengue fever cases this year, 524 of them locally acquired, along with one death.

Why it matters

Dengue is spreading through Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Florida, where locally acquired transmission is far higher than last year's 62 cases. Travel notices and local emergency declarations in Hillsborough County signal that the outbreak is being treated as an active public health concern for the state.

Florida's 524 locally acquired dengue cases this year compare with 62 last year, out of 906 total cases in the state, while the CDC has counted 2,842 cases nationally. Officials have not yet identified the full extent of local transmission across the state.

The players

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The CDC is the U.S. federal agency responsible for disease surveillance and issuing travel health notices to the public.

Hillsborough County, Florida

Hillsborough County is a Florida county that includes Tampa and has declared a local emergency in response to the dengue outbreak.

The details

The CDC's travel notice now lists Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Chad, Wallis and Futuna, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, and Vietnam under a level 1 alert for dengue fever. Officials in Hillsborough County have declared local emergencies, and mosquito-control spraying is underway in the Tampa area, while Virginia has detected nine locally acquired cases.

Last year: Florida registered 62 locally acquired dengue fever cases.
This year: the CDC recorded 2,842 dengue cases nationally and Florida's local outbreak took hold.
November 13, 2026: the CDC published its updated travel notice.

Health Landscape

The rise in locally acquired dengue cases in Florida, from 62 last year to 524 this year, extends the pattern the CDC has tracked in the continental U.S. since the 2024 Florida outbreak. The shift shows dengue establishing itself through local mosquito transmission rather than only through travelers returning from abroad.

Travelers to the newly listed countries should check CDC guidance before departing and use insect repellent to reduce bites from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Florida residents in affected areas should eliminate standing water around homes, where the mosquitoes breed.

The takeaway

Dengue is no longer confined to travelers returning from abroad, since Florida's 524 locally acquired cases show mosquitoes can transmit the virus within a single state. Preventing bites and removing standing water remain the most practical protections available to residents and visitors.