Printer Friendly
The Free Library
4,487,539 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Dengue strikes United States.


Texas has been hit with the first-ever outbreak of dengue dengue /den·gue/ (den´ge) an infectious, eruptive, febrile, viral disease of tropical areas, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and marked by severe pains in the head, eyes, muscles, and joints, sore throat, catarrhal symptoms, and sometimes a skin eruption and painful swellings of parts. hemorrhagic fever hemorrhagic fever
n.
A syndrome that occurs in perhaps 20 percent to 40 percent of infections by certain arboviruses and is marked by high fever, scattered petechiae, bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract and other organs, hypotension, and shock.
 in the continental United States. Sixteen people in Brownsville Brownsville, city (1990 pop. 98,962), seat of Cameron co., extreme S Tex., on the Rio Grande c.17 mi (30 km) from its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico; inc. 1850. It is an important port of entry across the river from Matamoros, Mexico. A deepwater channel was dredged (1936) to accommodate ocean vessels; a land cut NE to the Brazos Santiago Pass, which bypasses the Rio Grande channel, is the southern terminus of the Intracoastal Waterway. contracted this severe form of dengue fever Dengue hemorrhagic fever, a severe form of the disease, can cause hemorrhage, shock, and encephalitis. It occurs when a person who has acquired immunity to one of the viruses that cause dengue fever is infected by a different dengue virus. It is a leading cause of death among children in Southeast Asia and in recent years has become increasingly prevalent in tropical America. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever except good nursing care. late in 2005, and another nine people had a less severe form of dengue infection at that time, says physician Bryan K. Kapella of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, who presented these findings

Dengue is a viral disease, carried by mosquitoes, that causes a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint aches, and rashes. Dengue hemorrhagic fever includes those symptoms plus small-blood vessel leakage, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding, circulatory failure, and death. There is no vaccine for dengue and no direct treatment.

In the U.S. outbreak, none of the patients died.

Dengue is most common in tropical regions. It's caused by four distinct--but related--viruses. A person can't be reinfected with the same type of dengue. However, dengue hemorrhagic fever seems to strike people who have been infected with one virus type and then later become infected with another.

Therefore, some Brownsville patients may have been previously exposed to a dengue virus. Indeed, authorities had recorded five earlier instances in which verifiable dengue fever had crossed from Mexico, but none had caused hemorrhagic illness.

The dengue virus is carried by Aedes Aedes /Ae·des/ (a-e´dez) a genus of mosquitoes, including approximately 600 species; some are vectors of disease, others are pests. It includes A. aegyp´ti, a vector of yellow fever and dengue.

A·e·des (
 aegypti, a day-biting mosquito that is partial to humans. The mosquitoes breed in open water containers and pools, Kapella says. He recommends stepped-up dengue surveillance along the border. --N.S.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Science Service, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:sixteen people in Brownsville suffer
Publication:Science News
Article Type:Brief article
Geographic Code:1U7TX
Date:Oct 28, 2006
Words:246
Previous Article:Ivory-billed hopes flit to Florida.(ivory-billed woodpeckers found at Choctawhatchee River)(Brief article)
Next Article:Flu vaccine seems to work for kids under 6 months of age.(Brief article)
Topics:



Related Articles
Pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome associated with an autochthonous case of dengue hemorrhagic fever.(Case Report)
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever, Brazil, 1981-2002.(Research)
Persistent emergence of dengue.(COMMENTARY)
Dengue fever, Hawaii, 2001-2002.(RESEARCH)
Dengue risk among visitors to Hawaii during an outbreak.(RESEARCH)
Nosocomial dengue by mucocutaneous transmission.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
Impact of a short-term community-based cleanliness campaign on the sources of dengue vectors: an entomological and human behavior study.
Aedes aegypti larval indices and risk for dengue epidemics.
Climate-based descriptive models of dengue fever: the 2002 epidemic in Colima, Mexico.(FEATURES)
Climate-based descriptive models of dengue fever: the 2002 epidemic in Colima, Mexico.(Practical Stuff!)(Brief article)

Terms of use | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles