Dengue fever reappears in Key West

[Treyfish]

By SEAN KINNEY

skinney@keynoter.com

Posted - Wednesday, April 21, 2010 10:57 AM EDTWith the first case of the mosquito-borne illness dengue fever reported in the Keys since mid-October, Monroe County health officials are warning Key West residents to take precautions.


The most recent case, reported in a 41-year-old member of the U.S. Navy, was confirmed through lab tests in Miami after the man initially sought treatment from military doctors on April 6.
Officials believe the case was contracted locally, as the man reported no out-of-country travel in the past year.
Naval Air Station Key West spokesman Jim Brooks confirmed that the man, whom officials didn't identify, lived in base housing in Key West and that "areas where he lived and worked have been tested and sprayed."
"What we're going to do right now," Monroe County Health Department spokesman Chris Tittel said, "is continue that push of the public health message that people need to be aware on a very personal level of how to deal with mosquitoes."
That includes dumping standing water around homes, screening doors and windows, using air-conditioning whenever possible and regularly wearing DEET or other repellants.
"We had hoped we'd be able to eliminate the disease from Key West and took every effort to do so," Health Department Administrator Bob Eadie said. "However, the confirmed case is not totally unexpected in that once dengue fever has been established in an area, it is truly almost impossible to completely eradicate it."
An initial outbreak last June -- the first cases documented in Florida in 40 years -- prompted researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dengue lab in Puerto Rico to blood test some 240 cooperative Old Town residents. The survey found that 99 people tested positive for dengue or associated antibodies.
Symptoms include high fever, aching bones, headaches, pain behind the eyes and a rash. More than 100 million people worldwide have contracted the disease, which is endemic in some tropical areas including Puerto Rico and Central America. :tiphat:http://www.keysnet.com/2010/04/21/211818/denge-fever-reappears-in-key-west.html

 

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: Dengue fever reappears in Key West

Locally Acquired Dengue --- Key West, Florida, 2009--2010(CDC)

"...This report describes the first three dengue cases reported in 2009, briefly summarizes the 2010 case, highlights preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation, and outlines measures used to mitigate and control the outbreak...

In response to the three cases of locally acquired dengue, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) increased the frequency of truck and aerial spraying to control adult mosquito populations and initiated an intense door-to-door campaign to find and eliminate mosquito breeding sites...

To determine the extent of dengue infection in the Key West community, a serosurvey was conducted by FDOH and CDC, using randomly selected households, during September 23--27, 2009. Of 240 participants tested, 13 (5.4%) had evidence of recent dengue infection. In addition, Key West physicians were contacted by MCHD and asked to send serum specimens to CDC from all patients with signs and symptoms consistent with dengue. Of 21 specimens submitted during September 23--November 27, nine (42.9%) were positive by either dengue RT-PCR (three), NS-1 assay (one), or IgM ELISA (five). For additional case finding, medical records from three acute health-care facilities in Key West were reviewed for patients treated during July 15--September 15 who had symptoms consistent with dengue infection. Of six persons considered to have dengue-like illnesses and contacted for testing, four were positive for recent dengue infection. Because two of the four cases also had been counted in the serosurvey, the total number of dengue cases acquired in Key West in 2009 was 27, including the index case in the traveler from New York and the 26 cases in Key West residents.

Onset dates in the 27 Key West residents ranged from July 22, 2009, to April 5, 2010 (Figure), indicating that transmission began occurring before the August 10, 2009, onset of symptoms in the New York resident and continued for months afterward. The 28 patients ranged in age from 15 to 73 years
(median: 47 years). Fever was reported by all 28; headache, myalgia, arthralgia, eye pain, and rash also were commonly reported..."
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5919a1.htm?s_cid=mm5919a1_e

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Dengue fever reappears in Key West

Dengue fever outbreak feared in Key West

By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
July 13, 2010 | 4:20 p.m.

Federal officials said Tuesday that they fear an outbreak of dengue fever in Florida after a survey of Key West residents found that at least 5% had been infected or exposed to the virus. With the exception of a handful of isolated cases along the Texas-Mexico border, there had previously been no cases in the United States since 1946 and no outbreak in Florida since 1934.

Dengue fever, which is characterized by a fever of 104 to 105 degrees, a widespread rash, headache, fatigue and muscle aches, is the most common disease caused by mosquito-transmitted viruses in the world. Each year, there are an estimated 500,000 to 1 million cases and about 25,000 deaths worldwide.

"We're concerned that if dengue gains a foothold in Key West, it will travel to other Southern cities where the mosquito that transmits dengue is present, like Miami," Dr. Harold Margolis, chief of the dengue branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

Last September, a physician in New York notified the Monroe County (Fla.) Health Department about a suspected dengue fever case in a New York resident whose only travel had been to Key West. In the next two weeks, two dengue infections in Key West residents who had not traveled elsewhere were identified. By the end of the year, 27 cases had been identified.

Researchers from CDC and the Florida health department reported in Atlanta at an International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases that they then collected 240 blood samples from randomly selected households in Key West. About 5% of them showed the dengue virus itself or antibodies against it, indicating that about 1,000 residents of the city have been infected or exposed to the virus.

"These people had not traveled outside of Florida, so we need to determine if these cases are an isolated occurrence or if dengue has once again become endemic in the continental United States," Margolis said.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-heb-dengue-outbreak-20100713,0,7539059.story