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Caught in Tuscany, not the tropics: Italy's dengue cases and what they mean for your holiday

Qurexa Editorial Team4 October 20268 min read 0 0
Caught in Tuscany, not the tropics: Italy's dengue cases and what they mean for your holiday

What happened

On 2 October 2026, the National Travel Health Network and Centre updated its outbreak surveillance page with Italy's dengue figures for the year. As of 29 September 2026, Italy had reported 59 confirmed locally acquired dengue cases in 2026. That phrase, 'locally acquired', is the important one. It means the people infected had not travelled to a tropical country. They caught dengue in Italy, from mosquitoes in Italy. The cases are not spread evenly. There are two main clusters. The larger one is in Tuscany, traced to a municipality in the province of Livorno. It began with a single case detected in August and grew as contacts linked to the same exposure area were tested. Many of those found have had no symptoms at all. The second cluster is in Puglia, linked to exposure in the province of Lecce. Cases have also been reported in Lombardy, Campania and Veneto. The Tuscany region has put the standard public health measures in place: monitoring, contact tracing and insecticide treatment aimed at the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which is the main carrier of dengue in Europe. It is worth keeping the scale in perspective. Alongside these locally acquired cases, Italy records a larger number of dengue infections each year in people who caught the disease while travelling abroad and were diagnosed after returning home. That has been true for years and is not new. What is relatively new is dengue being transmitted within Italy at all.

Why this matters

Dengue used to be something you thought about when booking a trip to Southeast Asia or South America. Increasingly, it is something to think about when booking a week in Tuscany. The reason is the mosquito. Aedes albopictus, the tiger mosquito, is not native to Europe. It arrived through global trade - famously in shipments of used tyres, which hold rainwater - and it has spread steadily north across the Mediterranean and beyond over the past few decades. It is now established in much of Italy, southern France, Spain and parts of several other European countries. The mosquito does not create dengue. The virus still has to arrive, usually in a traveller returning from a country where dengue is common. But once an infected person is bitten by a local tiger mosquito, and that mosquito bites someone else, you have local transmission. That is what these 59 cases are. Warmer summers extend the season in which that chain can keep going. The Lancet Countdown's European reporting has documented a substantial rise in climatic suitability for dengue, chikungunya and Zika across Europe over the past decade. For a UK traveller, none of this means cancelling a holiday. Italy remains an extremely safe destination and 59 cases in a country of nearly 60 million people is a very low risk to any individual. What it does mean is that mosquito bite avoidance is now sensible advice for European summer travel, not just for the tropics. That is a genuine change in what good travel advice looks like, and most people have not caught up with it.

What the evidence actually says

**The 59 figure.** This is NaTHNaC's count of confirmed locally acquired cases as of 29 September 2026. Confirmed means laboratory confirmed. The true number of infections will be higher, because most dengue infections cause mild illness or none at all, and people with no symptoms rarely get tested. Indeed, many of the Tuscany cluster cases were found through contact tracing and were asymptomatic. **What dengue actually does.** Most people infected have no symptoms or a mild illness. Those who do become ill typically get a high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain - it was historically called 'breakbone fever' - nausea and a rash, starting four to ten days after a bite and lasting around a week. **The serious form is uncommon but real.** A small proportion of cases develop severe dengue, which can involve bleeding, plasma leakage and organ problems, and requires hospital care. Warning signs usually appear as the fever drops rather than at its peak: severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding gums or nose, blood in vomit or stool, rapid breathing, extreme tiredness or restlessness. **Second infections carry more risk.** There are four dengue types. Catching a second, different type later in life carries a higher risk of severe disease than a first infection. This matters mostly to people who have had dengue before. **There is no specific treatment.** Care is supportive: fluids, rest and paracetamol for fever and pain. This is why the next point is important - ibuprofen and aspirin should be avoided in suspected dengue because they increase bleeding risk. **On vaccines.** Dengue vaccines exist and are licensed in some countries, with specific eligibility rules that depend on previous infection. They are not part of routine travel advice for a trip to Italy. A travel clinic is the place to ask about your own situation.

Qurexa perspective

We supply prescriptions, so the part of this we see most often is the thing that goes wrong before anyone leaves the country: running out of medicine abroad. If you are travelling to Italy, or anywhere, the practical checks are dull and genuinely important. Make sure you have enough of every regular medicine to cover the whole trip, plus a week's buffer for delays. Order repeat prescriptions well ahead of the date you travel, not in the last few days - pharmacies cannot always dispense early without good reason, and the rules on how far ahead are not infinitely flexible. Keep medicines in their original labelled packaging, carry a copy of your prescription or a repeat slip, and keep essential medicines in hand luggage rather than checked bags. If you take anything that affects bleeding or clotting, or if you take regular anti-inflammatory painkillers, the ibuprofen warning in the previous section is worth discussing with your pharmacist before you go rather than working out abroad. Qurexa delivers prescriptions across Lincolnshire, and the single most common avoidable problem we see around holidays is people ordering too late. Two weeks' notice removes almost all of the risk.

Practical advice

**Before you go.** Check the FCDO travel advice and the TravelHealthPro country page for Italy. Both are free and both are updated as situations change. Get travel insurance, and get a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), which is free from the NHS and covers state-provided medically necessary treatment in Italy. **Avoid bites, which is the whole of dengue prevention.** Tiger mosquitoes bite during the day, especially around dawn and dusk. This is different from malaria mosquitoes and catches people out. Use an insect repellent containing DEET at 20% to 50%, and reapply as instructed. Repellent goes on after sunscreen, not before. Wear loose, long-sleeved tops and long trousers when you can, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon. Use air conditioning or screens, or sleep under a net if your accommodation is not sealed. **Empty standing water around where you are staying.** Tiger mosquitoes breed in very small amounts of water. Plant pot saucers, buckets, watering cans, blocked gutters, bird baths, even bottle caps. Tipping them out is the most effective thing most people can do and it costs nothing. **If you develop a fever within two weeks of returning from Italy, or anywhere with dengue:** see a doctor and say where you have been. Do not take ibuprofen or aspirin for the fever - use paracetamol instead. Drink plenty of fluids. **Seek urgent help if warning signs appear as a fever subsides:** severe tummy pain, repeated vomiting, any bleeding, breathlessness or extreme drowsiness. In the UK call 111, or 999 if severely unwell. In Italy the emergency number is 112.

What to know

Italy has reported 59 confirmed locally acquired dengue cases in 2026, as of 29 September. The two main clusters are in Tuscany, around a municipality in Livorno province, and in Puglia, in Lecce province, with further cases in Lombardy, Campania and Veneto. Local authorities are running monitoring, contact tracing and mosquito control. 'Locally acquired' means these people did not travel to the tropics. The tiger mosquito is now established across much of Italy, and warmer summers lengthen the window in which it can pass the virus on. The individual risk to a UK holidaymaker remains very low. Italy is a safe destination and 59 cases is a small number in a large country. The change worth absorbing is in the advice, not the risk: bite avoidance is now sensible for European summer travel, not just tropical trips. Daytime repellent, covered arms and legs around dawn and dusk, and tipping out standing water where you are staying. Two things to remember if you fall ill after travelling: tell the doctor where you have been, and use paracetamol rather than ibuprofen or aspirin. Sources: National Travel Health Network and Centre (TravelHealthPro), 'Outbreak Surveillance', entry for Italy dated 2 October 2026, https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/outbreaks ; National Travel Health Network and Centre, 'Dengue', accessed 4 October 2026, https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/diseases/dengue ; NHS, 'Dengue', accessed 4 October 2026, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dengue/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist, travel clinic or other qualified healthcare professional. Seek personal travel health advice at least four to six weeks before you travel, and medical advice promptly if you become unwell.

#dengue#italy#travel health#mosquitoes#holidays#nathnac

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