There has been a cumulative 80 laboratory confirmed dengue fever cases reported in the United States and five US territories as of June 19, according to recently published provisional ArboNet data.
Of the 80 cases, 43 were determined to be travel-associated, while 37 were locally transmitted. All of the local transmission cases were reported from three US territories–American Samoa (27), Puerto Rico (9) and the US Virgin Islands (1).
The state reporting the most travel-associated dengue include California (9), Wisconsin (6), Washington (5) and Ohio, Tennessee and Hawaii with three cases each.
In total, 16 states and three territories reported cases to ArboNet.
Dengue has been reported to ArboNet since 2003. It became a nationally reportable condition in 2010.
In the past 50 years, the incidence of dengue worldwide has increased 30-fold, largely as a consequence of the growth of cities and increased travel.
Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.
LISTEN: DDT: An interview with Dr Jane Orient
People get the dengue virus from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. It is not contagious from person to person. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year.
However, new research from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.
2 thoughts on “Dengue fever: 80 cases reported in US and territories in 1st six months of 2017”