Dengue strikes United States.Texas has been hit with the first-ever outbreak of dengue dengue or breakbone fever or dandy fever Infectious, disabling mosquito-borne fever. Other symptoms include extreme joint pain and stiffness, intense pain behind the eyes, a return of fever after brief pause, and a characteristic rash. hemorrhagic fever hemorrhagic fever (hĕm'ərăj`ĭk), any of a group of viral diseases characterized by sudden onset, muscle and joint pain, fever, bleeding, and shock from loss of blood. in the continental United States United States territory, including the adjacent territorial waters, located within North America between Canada and Mexico. Also called CONUS. . Sixteen people in Brownsville contracted this severe form of dengue fever dengue fever (dĕng`gē, –gā), acute infectious disease caused by four closely related viruses and transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito; it is also known as breakbone fever and bone-crusher disease. 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. 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 Hemorrhagic A condition resulting in massive, difficult-to-control bleeding. Mentioned in: Hantavirus Infections hemorrhagic pertaining to or characterized by hemorrhage. illness. The dengue virus is carried by Aedes 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. |
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