Too Early To Talk About An Epidemic Of Dengue Fever In The United States.
Two more cases of dengue fever were reported by condition officials in Florida this week, bringing the complete to 46 confirmed cases since hold out September, but a excel government health official said it's too early to say whether the mosquito-borne tropical illness is gaining a foothold in the United States. "We don't know how dengue got to Key West, and whether or not it's endemic," said Harold Margolis, leader of the dengue spin-off of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in San Juan, PR. "It's only booming to play out as we watch to see what happens during this warm, wet period of time, which is when dengue is at its peak".
And "That's the maladjusted with a disease like this. You have to watch it but, at the same time, you also have to essay to control it". The most common virus transmitted by mosquitoes, dengue causes up to 100 million infections and 25000 deaths worldwide each year. The infection is found mostly in tropical climates, and many parts of the world, including Central and South America and the Caribbean, are currently experiencing epidemics.
In Puerto Rico, for instance, there have been at least five deaths and more than 6000 suspected cases of dengue this year. Margolis said it's doable that the Florida outbreak is an anchoretic incident. "We've seen this happen in other parts of the world, such as in northern Australia, where travelers re-emergence with the infection and launch dengue, it spreads for a while of time, and then it goes away".
In the United States, a smattering of locally acquired cases in Texas have been reported since 1980, and all of them have coincided with massive outbreaks in neighboring Mexican cities. The stand up dengue outbreak in Florida was 75 years ago, according to the CDC.
The disease typically causes flu-like symptoms such as peak fever, headache, and achy muscles, bones and joints. Symptoms typically begin about two to seven days after being bitten. "It's also called breakbone fever, because some bodies get in horrible, severe pains in their bones and joints," explained Dr Bert Lopansri, medical principal of the Loyola University Health System International Medicine and Traveler's Immunization Clinic, in Maywood, Ill. There is no prescription or vaccine, and in most cases the illness resolves on its own within a connect of weeks.