Dengue and Hemorrhagic Fever
A Potential Threat to Public Health in the United States
- David M. Morens, MD;
- Anthony S. Fauci, MD
- Author Affiliations: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
- Corresponding Author: David M. Morens, MD, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bldg 31, Room 7A-03, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 (dmorens{at}niaid.nih.gov).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Most individuals in the United States are as little concerned about dengue fever as they were a decade ago about West Nile fever. That situation could change if dengue continues its expansion as one of the world's most aggressive reemerging infections. After decades of absence in the United States, the sometimes deadly disease is again striking US individuals, causing an epidemic in Hawaii in 2001,1 appearing with increasing frequency along the Texas-Mexico border,2 returning with unprecedented severity in US tropical territories and commonwealths such as Puerto Rico,3 and striking overseas travelers.4-5
Widespread appearance of dengue in the continental United States is a real possibility. The range of Aedes albopictus (“Asian tiger mosquito”), a secondary dengue vector related to the classical vector, Aedes aegypti, has been expanding globally at an alarming rate, perhaps aided by global warming.6 Since its introduction into the United …
