An 80-year-old Tampa woman has become Florida’s first confirmed dengue fever death of 2026, health officials said Friday, as Hillsborough County battles the largest cluster of the mosquito-borne illness in the state.
Gay Small died on Sept. 4, her birthday, after being bitten near her home on Bayshore Boulevard, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Her death certificate lists “dengue infection” as the cause of death, with septic shock and multi-organ failure listed as contributing conditions.
“She was in good health and she worked hard to stay healthy and she walked and she ate right and you know, all the things that you’re supposed to do,” her daughter, Anna Small, 55, told NBC affiliate WFLA. “And you know, this virus just kind of comes out of nowhere. She met the wrong mosquito, and that’s it.”
Anna Small said her mother traveled widely over the years and may have unknowingly contracted dengue before, which could explain why this infection proved fatal.
“She traveled extensively all over the world, and maybe she had dengue once and didn’t even know it,” Anna said. “And so this might have been a second exposure, and you know, who would know that it would be so serious.”
Infectious disease expert Dr. Adelor Zamora told WFLA that a second dengue infection can be far more dangerous than the first because of how the immune system responds.
“Studies say that if you get it the second time, it’s even worse against the way that your immune system will react to the virus the second time around. It’s more a robust immune reaction,” Zamora said.
Small’s death is the first dengue fatality recorded in the Tampa Bay region in nearly a century, the Times reported.
Cases Concentrated in Hillsborough
Florida has confirmed 152 dengue cases statewide this year, with 134 of them in Hillsborough County alone. Pinellas and Miami-Dade counties have each reported seven cases.
The statewide total is approaching the record set in 2023, when more than 200 cases were reported, making 2026 the second-worst year for dengue in Florida on record. Because most infections produce no symptoms, health officials say the true case count is likely higher than reported.
Dengue symptoms include high fever, severe headache and flu-like body aches.
Hillsborough County officials are working to contain the outbreak by spraying pesticides and inspecting areas of standing water where mosquitoes breed. Recent mosquito sampling suggests the outbreak is gradually easing.
