By Amanda Musa | CNN
(CNN) — Dengue virus is the most common mosquito-spread virus globally, but generally relatively rare in the continental United States. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week about a higher-than-expected number of dengue cases among US travelers — 745 cases through June 24 — as well as a public health emergency in Puerto Rico, where the virus is endemic.
Global infections in 2024 have been the highest on record, with cases in the Americas already reaching 9.7 million — exceeding the highest number ever recorded in a single year.
What is dengue, and where is it common?
Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus that is spread mainly via the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also known to carry several other viruses such as yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika, according to the CDC.
Dengue is endemic in more than 100 countries in tropical and subtropical climates, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas, according to WHO.
It’s also endemic in the US territories of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
More than 34,000 locally acquired cases were reported in the US between 2010 and 2023, according to CDC data. A handful of outbreaks of locally transmitted cases have been reported in states with warmer climates, including Florida, Texas, Hawaii and Arizona. California reported its first locally-transmitted case in Pasadena last year.
But almost all US cases are reported in Puerto Rico, says Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, chief of the Dengue Branch in the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told CNN previously. And that’s not a surprise.
“It has the perfect climate for it. It’s a tropical island,” she said. “There are indeed efforts from the health department and other organizations like the Puerto Rico vector control unit to control dengue in the area.”
This includes public education and integrated mosquito management such as “removing places where the mosquitoes lay eggs, and that is done through community engagement, but also clean-up campaigns,” Paz-Bailey said.
Similar efforts are also recommended in the rest of the US and its territories, she noted.
Dengue symptoms
Only about 1 in 4 people infected with dengue will have symptoms.
The most common symptom is fever, and it can also cause nausea, vomiting, rash or aches and pains – typically behind the eyes or muscle, joint or bone pain.
There are four strains of the virus, or serotypes, according to the World Health Organization. Once someone catches one of the strains, it can’t infect them again. But the more times someone is infected with different strains, the more likely they are to become severely ill.
Severe dengue is less common, with about 1 in 20 people developing it. But the symptoms are more troubling. It can cause shock, internal bleeding and even death.
About 100 million people get sick and 40,000 die of severe dengue around the world each year, according to the CDC.
Testing for dengue
If you get sick and live in an area where dengue might be spreading or have traveled …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
