Following the confirmation of more than 250 dengue fever cases of the last four months, the mayor of Hawaii's Big Island has declared a state of emergency, according to a Reuters report.
Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi and local health officials released a statement, saying the current outbreak is the largest the state has seen since the 1940s and the first locally-acquired outbreak since 2011, when numerous cases were reported on Oahu.
According to the CDC, dengue is caused by any one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, including the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which can also spread the Zika virus.
Currently, there are no vaccines to prevent dengue virus.
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