Dengue Re-emerges in U.S., Spurring Race for Vaccine

[depakid]

For the first time in more than 65 years, dengue has returned the continental United States, according to an advisory the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued in late May. While a few cases were reported earlier, they were primarily in Americans who had caught the virus abroad or at the Texas-Mexico border. The upsurge is not unexpected. Experts say more than half the world's population will be at risk by 2085 because of greater urbanization, global travel and climate change. Over the past 30 years, a global outcry against using the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, has led to the resurgence of the mosquito, a voracious consumer of human blood and carrier of infectious disease.

Epidemics have become routine in Latin America, a continent on the verge of becoming highly endemic. Outbreaks are today raging in Brazil, Guatemala and other nations. Thailand, within a week of its annual dengue season this year, has already reported 18,000 cases and 20 deaths, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

As the virus spreads in the tropics, experts are continuing to push toward an ultimate solution for the mosquito-borne illnesses: an effective and affordable vaccine. There are no drugs for the disease.

Jean Lang, associate vice president and head of research and development for the dengue program of the deep-pocketed pharmaceuticals company Sanofi Pasteur Inc., last month presented the world's most advanced effort to vaccinate against dengue to a room full of industry insiders in Chicago....

"If everything goes well, we will have phase 3 trials on an industrial scale by the end of the year," Lang remarked. He spoke of nearly 100 million people worldwide getting the disease and 25,000 people dying in tropical countries per year.

But the virus was closer than that. In April, a 41-year-old man in Key West, Fla., was admitted to a hospital, complaining of fever and blood in his urine, according to CDC. Tests revealed that he had antibodies to the dengue virus, which is mild in its most prevalent form. In more severe versions of the illness, called dengue hemorrhagic fever and the dengue shock syndrome, the virus can kill by significant internal bleeding.

Since August 2009, U.S. doctors have diagnosed 28 people with dengue, according to CDC. They had all caught it in Florida.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/28/28greenwire-dengue-re-emerges-in-us-spurring-race-for-vacc-14067.html

[stray cat]

1. Really nasty disease - not good to have it here

[kestrel91316]

2. One MORE reason I am not happy about my niece living in S FL.

[depakid]

3. Could be worse- my sister lives on the Florida panhandle- and they bought an expensive boat

back in March. :(

What's disturbing about Dengue vaccinations is the likelihood that immunity to one strain will increase the odds of a far worse outcome from infection with another. So from the patient's perspective, if the vaccination(s) don't confer a very high degree of immunity against all four strains, they may well increase their risk of mortality.

[eilen]

4. Wow, we just had a lady admitted

with some of the symptoms-- low bp, aches, fever, dehydration-- she had just been to South America on a mission.