TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health confirmed Friday that an 80-year-old Hillsborough County woman is the state's first known dengue fever death of 2026, after Gay Small died Sept. 4 at Tampa General Hospital on her birthday.

The Tampa Bay Times first reported the death about 10 days earlier, before the state finished its review. Her death certificate lists dengue infection, septic shock and multi-organ failure. Family members said she was bitten near her home on Bayshore Boulevard.

"So I guess that means the state agrees she died of dengue," her daughter, Anna Small, 55, said Thursday.

A department spokesperson told WFLA that epidemiologists had completed their investigation and did not name the patient. The Times and other outlets identified Small. Hospital officials said they do not discuss individual cases.

Anna Small told WFLA her mother had been healthy. "She........

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