U.S. is seeing elevated danger of dengue infections, well being officers warn : NPR

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

It has been a record-breaking yr for dengue circumstances in Central and South America – virtually 10 million circumstances to this point, greater than any yr on file. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is now warning of an elevated danger of dengue infections within the U.S. NPR well being correspondent Pien Huang is right here to inform us about it. Hey, Pien.

PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Any thought why the virus is surging now?

HUANG: So a few causes. No. 1, it is a mosquito-borne virus. And it has been a heat, moist yr in South America, so there’s much more mosquitoes round. Mosquitos are additionally thriving in additional locations due to local weather change, in order that’s No. 1. No. 2 is that dengue is cyclical. There are usually huge outbreaks each couple of years. The final huge one was in 2019. And a part of the explanation for that’s that there is truly 4 totally different strains of dengue. Individuals who get one pressure are protected for a few years, then the immunity wears off and so they’re prone to getting one of many different strains. So this population-level immunity comes and goes in cycles. After which there’s additionally the truth that folks within the U.S. are touring much more lately.

SHAPIRO: Lately which means, like, summer season trip? Or simply broadly, typically talking, folks journey extra?

HUANG: Undoubtedly much more for the reason that pandemic. So I spoke with Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, an environmental scientist at Emory College. He says we won’t simply blame the mosquitoes.

GONZALO VAZQUEZ-PROKOPEC: Human mobility, both brief or longer distances, play a big position in shifting the viruses round. So people are the vector. People are those which can be shifting the virus even an extended distance than mosquitoes.

HUANG: He says one of many the reason why issues went fairly quiet within the final couple of years is that journey principally shut down through the COVID pandemic. So now that persons are touring extra typically – seeing household, previous mates, locations they have not been – they’re getting bitten by mosquitoes with dengue, and so they’re bringing it to wherever they are going subsequent.

SHAPIRO: So how dangerous is it? I’ve a way that, like, you’d slightly get dengue than malaria, however you do not need to get dengue.

HUANG: Properly, dengue is definitely one of many world’s commonest mosquito-spread illnesses. And in 75% of the circumstances, the individuals who get contaminated do not truly get very sick.

SHAPIRO: Properly, that is good.

HUANG: Yeah, that is good. However in 1 / 4 of these circumstances, they do, and people signs may be fairly terrible, Ari. Folks can get excessive fevers, debilitating complications, joint pains. And in some extreme circumstances, it will possibly trigger folks’s blood vessels to leak, and it will possibly result in shock and even loss of life.

SHAPIRO: Not good. OK, I stated the CDC is warning about danger in the USA. How extreme is that danger? Who needs to be anxious?

HUANG: Yeah, so it actually will depend on the place you reside. The chance isn’t unfold equally throughout the nation. To date this yr, there have been about 2,000 circumstances within the U.S. and most of these circumstances have been in Puerto Rico, the place dengue is endemic. Puerto Rico truly declared a public well being emergency over dengue a number of months in the past. There have additionally been some circumstances reported within the U.S. Virgin Islands, some in Florida. Lately, native transmission has been seen in Texas, Arizona, California.

Gabriela Paz-Bailey, head of CDC’s dengue department, says that individuals who traveled to Puerto Rico or different locations which can be experiencing huge dengue surges ought to concentrate on the danger. It is particularly harmful for infants, pregnant ladies and the aged. However she says that they don’t seem to be truly anticipating huge surges of dengue throughout the continental U.S. the summer season. What they do anticipate to see is extra travel-related circumstances and small chains of transmission associated to them. She says that they really need docs to be looking out for circumstances and to check for it.

SHAPIRO: NPR’s Pien Huang. Thanks.

HUANG: You are welcome.

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