CDC Confirms Dengue Fever Outbreak

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CDC Confirms Dengue Fever Outbreak By JANIS L. MAGIN Associated Press Writer

September 22, 2001, 5:31 AM EDT

HONOLULU -- Federal health officials confirmed that four people on Maui contracted dengue fever over the summer, the first cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Hawaii in more than 50 years, state officials said.

Dengue fever is rarely fatal, and the four people confirmed to have had it have recovered.

Still, state health officials are urging people in East Maui, a sparsely populated and largely rainforested region, to take precautions and eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which transmit the tropical disease.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnoses of four cases in Hana and Nahiku on Friday, said Dr. Bruce Anderson, the state health department's director.

At least 20 more suspected cases are awaiting confirmation from the CDC, said Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the health department.

"Dengue can be a very serious problem in areas where it hasn't appeared recently," Anderson said. "Typically epidemics tend to be widespread and difficult to control."

Symptoms of dengue fever include fever, headache and rashes on the palms and feet. The more serious dengue hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate of 5 percent, according to the CDC. There is no vaccine or specific treatment.

The state had recorded 21 cases of dengue fever this year, but all contracted the disease elsewhere before coming to Hawaii, Anderson said.

He said Tahiti and several other South Pacific islands are having serious problems with dengue. Several cases were reported in American Samoa in July, and an outbreak of 400 cases was reported in Samoa in June.

The cases in Hawaii are the first in more than 50 years in which the infected person had not left the islands, Anderson said.

The state plans to spray insecticides around homes in the affected area, Anderson said. He said it can take up to a year to eliminate dengue from an area once it has taken hold.

"I think we may have caught it early and hopefully will be able to control and eradicate it," Anderson said.

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On the Net:

CDC Dengue Fever page: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/index.htm Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2001

Answers

Thanks Maggie. I'll send this to my sis, who lives 'out that way.'

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2001

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