Dengue Fever Makes U.S. Inroads
The CDC reports that locally acquired Dengue killed a Texas woman in 2012 who had been misdiagnosed with West Nile virus. Dina Fine Maron reports
By Dina Fine Maron
SUBSCRIBE TO 60-Second Health
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Dengue fever is common in the tropics. And in recent years the mosquito-borne virus has made inroads into the U.S., along the Texas–Mexico border and in south Florida.
The terrible pain of dengue has earned it the alternate name Breakbone Fever. And last month we learned that a Texas woman who died in 2012 after visiting New Mexico was a dengue victim. She was originally misdiagnosed with West Nile virus. That finding is in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. [Tyler M. Sharp et al., Fatal Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Associated with Locally Acquired Dengue Virus Infection—New Mexico and Texas, 2012]
This case is the third locally acquired dengue-related death in the U.S in the last decade (not including Puerto Rico, where dengue is common.) All three deaths occurred in the Texas area.
The CDC says it’s tough to gauge the true incidence of dengue in the U.S. because most recent cases appear to have been diagnosed at private labs and were not reported to public health authorities.
Three deaths may sound negligible in a country where some 600,000 people die of heart disease annually. But with more cases cropping up in Texas and Florida, dengue is definitely on the CDC’s watch list.
—Dina Fine Maron
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
