The deadly hemorrhagic form of dengue fever Surging in Mexico, Latin America
Pastor Dale Morgan
The deadly hemorrhagic form of dengue fever Surging in Mexico, Latin
America*
By MARK STEVENSON
The Associated Press
Friday, March 30, 2007; 6:45 PM
MEXICO CITY -- The deadly hemorrhagic form of dengue fever is increasing
dramatically in Mexico, and experts predict a surge throughout Latin
America fueled by climate change, migration and faltering mosquito
eradication efforts.
Overall dengue cases have increased by more than 600 percent in Mexico
since 2001, and worried officials are sending special teams to tourist
resorts to spray pesticides and remove garbage and standing water where
mosquitoes breed ahead of the peak Easter Week vacation season.
Even classic dengue _ known as "bonebreak fever" _ can cause severe
flu-like symptoms, excruciating joint pain, high fever, nausea and rashes.
More alarming is that a deadly hemorrhagic form of the disease, which
adds internal and external bleeding to the symptoms _ is becoming more
common. It accounts for one in four cases in Mexico, compared with one
in 50 seven years ago, according to Mexico's Public Health Department.
While hemorrhagic dengue is increasing around the developing world, the
problem is most dramatic in the Americas, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Like a poster child for the downside of humanity's impact on the planet,
dengue is driven by longer rainy seasons some blame on climate change,
as well as disposable plastic packaging and other trash that collects
water. Migrants and tourists _ including the many thousands of Americans
expected for spring break this year _ carry new strains of the virus
across national borders, where mosquitoes can spread the disease.
The CDC says there's no drug to treat hemorrhagic dengue, but proper
treatment, including rest, fluids and pain relief, can reduce death
rates to about 1 percent.
Latin America's hospitals are ill-equipped to handle major outbreaks,
and officials say the virus is likely to grow deadlier, in part because
tourism and migration are circulating four different strains across the
region. A person exposed to one strain may develop immunity to that
strain _ but subsequent exposure to another strain makes it more likely
the person will develop the hemorrhagic form.
This dengue spread "is one of the primordial public health problems the
country faces," said Mexico's Public Health Department, which has sent
hundreds of workers to the resorts of Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and
Acapulco to try to avert outbreaks ahead of the Easter week vacation.
"We are working intensively, both the federal and state governments, on
(these) three sites that we want to keep under control, so that it
doesn't become a risk for tourists," said Pablo Kuri, head of Mexico's
National Center for Epidemiology and Disease Control.
The Canadian Embassy in Mexico City issued an alert about dengue after
five Canadians were sickened in Puerto Vallarta earlier this year.
Acapulco, a city of 700,000, has documented 549 cases of classic and
hemorrhagic dengue in the first two months of 2007, up from just 86 for
the same period last year.
Dengue is mostly a problem in tropical slums, where trash collection and
sanitation are not as good as in tourist areas.
In January and February, Mexico's dry season, there were 1,589 cases of
both types of dengue nationwide, up 380 percent from the same period in
2006, Kuri said. And last year was also bad for dengue: Mexico
documented 27,000 infections overall _ including 4,477 hemorrhagic cases
and 20 deaths _ compared with 1,781 cases overall in 2001.
Dengue has been found along the U.S.-Mexico border, where 151 classic
and 46 hemorrhagic cases were recorded last year in the Gulf state of
Tamaulipas, south of Texas.
Historically, the United States hasn't been immune from dengue _ a 1922
outbreak in Texas infected a half-million people. And according to the
CDC, dengue returned to southern Texas in 1980 after a 35-year absence.
Occasional cases since then have included hemorrhagic dengue.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world's
leading climate scientists, predicted in March that global warming and
climate change would cause an upsurge in dengue. In Mexico, officials
say longer rainy seasons already are leading to more cases.
"It used to be seasonal, in the hottest, wettest months, and now in some
regions we are seeing it practically all year," said Joel Navarrete, an
epidemiologist with the Mexican Social Security Institute.
The global solution to dengue outbreaks is mosquito control, and
faltering eradication efforts, together with climate change, probably
share blame for dengue's rise in the Americas, Kuri said.
A successful eradication program in Latin America in the 1960s sent the
disease into remission, but economic crises and government downsizing
sapped those efforts over the next two decades. Some countries reported
severe outbreaks in the 1980s, and by the 1990s, dengue began a regional
resurgence.
Paraguay declared a state of emergency in March after 17 people died of
hemorrhagic dengue and an estimated 400,000 were infected with the
milder "classic" form of the disease. The government sent soldiers into
the streets in an emergency campaign to spray insecticides and clean up
stagnant water.
At least 24 people died of hemorrhagic dengue in the Dominican Republic
last year.
"It's part of globalization," Kuri said. "Someone can be in Paraguay,
where there is a big outbreak, with type-one virus, and six hours later
be in Mexico."
___
On the Net:
Centers for Disease Control dengue site:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/