Substantial costs and underreporting of dengue fever, concerns about blood supply face USOctober 17, 2007Research to be presented at the 56th Annual American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Meeting in Philadelphia Dengue fever, known as "breakbone fever" because of the excruciating back and joint pain that accompanies this infectious disease, is a growing public health threat for people living in tropical countries, as well as travelers to destinations such as Thailand, Brazil and Puerto Rico, according to research being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Nov. 4-7. Protocol Needed to Screen Blood Donors
Dengue, which is believed to infect millions of people annually in developing countries, and also causes some infections in Texas along the border of Mexico, is usually transmitted by mosquitoes. A recent study examined the prevalence of dengue virus among blood donors in Puerto Rico and found that one in every 1,300 donors tested positive during the 2005 epidemic, which means that this sometimes fatal disease might be transferred to others through the blood supply. "The frequency of finding dengue virus in blood donors during outbreaks is comparable to what we see with West Nile virus," said Susan Stramer, executive scientific officer, American Red Cross. "However, we still need to better understand transfusion-associated transmission of dengue and the dynamics of the virus in donors." Still, the American Red Cross and public health officials plan to start dengue blood donor screening using a research protocol in Puerto Rico in 2008. Underreporting Remains Public Health Concern Researchers believe that dengue is grossly underreported in many countries. For example, in 2004, 557,000 cases and 1,800 deaths were reported globally to WHO, but the projected dengue burden was more than 8 million cases and nearly 20,000 deaths. In addition to underreporting, the lack of a rapid and accurate diagnostic test, potential misdiagnoses of milder forms of dengue as influenza, as well as limited data further challenge efforts to measure the global burden of this threatening disease. And, with no drugs available to treat dengue, patients' prognosis relies on good medical management, including rest, fluids and pain relief. Direct and Indirect Costs of Dengue In the first comprehensive, multi-country analysis of dengue by all stakeholders (households, employers and public health systems), the new study reveals a substantial epidemiological, social and economic burden associated with the disease. "On average, a hospitalized case of dengue costs three times that of an ambulatory case," said Jose Suaya, scientist at Brandeis University and co-investigator of the study, which was conducted in eight countries across South East Asia and South America from 2005-2006. "An episode of dengue has a tremendous impact on the government, households and employers," said Donald Shepard, professor at Brandeis University and co-investigator of the study. "More attention is needed to understand global patterns of dengue and related costs to develop sound policy and appropriately allocate resources for its prevention and treatment. We believe this data is an important first step." Researchers assessed direct medical costs, non-medical costs and indirect costs (e.g., days lost by patients and caretakers from school, work) and found that even though countries have major public health systems that pay for care, there was a heavy toll on households due to out-of-pocket expenses. For ambulatory patients, families assume most of the burden, and even when someone is hospitalized, they assume about 25% of the related costs. American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Related Dengue Fever Current Events and Dengue Fever News Articles Transcending Boundaries From understanding climate change to predicting infectious disease outbreaks to engineering solutions to address disability, scientific research is increasingly crossing the boundaries between disciplines. New West Nile and Japanese encephalitis vaccines produced University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have developed new vaccines to protect against West Nile and Japanese encephalitis viruses. The investigators created the vaccines using an innovative technique that they believe could also enable the development of new vaccines against other diseases, such as yellow fever and dengue fever, which are caused by similar viruses. Ayurvedic nightshade deadly for dengue mosquito Mosquitoes responsible for spreading disease are increasingly becoming resistant to synthetic insecticides. Now research published in the online open access journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine suggests that the berries of a weed common to India, Solanum villosum (S villosum), have potential for keeping mosquitoes at bay. Indigenous peoples hardest hit by climate change describe impacts Indigenous peoples have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emissions and have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth. Confronting the challenge of antimicrobial resistance Drug resistance is making many diseases increasingly difficult--and sometimes impossible--to treat, according to Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers put the bite on mosquitoes Few things sting like a mosquito's bite--especially if that bite carries a disease such as malaria, yellow fever, Dengue fever or West Nile virus. But if researchers from The University of Arizona in Tucson have their way, one day mosquito bites may prove deadly to the mosquitoes as well. NIAID experts see dengue as potential threat to US public health A disease most Americans have never heard of could soon become more prevalent if dengue, a flu-like illness that can turn deadly, continues to expand into temperate climates and increase in severity, according to a new commentary by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and David M. Morens, M.D., Fauci's senior scientific advisor. Gene expression profiling of dengue virus infection in cell lines and patients Researchers at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and the Genome Institute of Singapore have identified new host genes associated with dengue virus infection, which may open new avenues to developing a drug to treat the disease. Discovery may help defang viruses Researchers may be able to tinker with a single amino acid of an enzyme that helps viruses multiply to render them harmless, according to molecular biologists who say the discovery could pave the way for a fast and cheap method of making vaccines. Disease-free mosquito bred to disease-carrier can have all disease-free progeny A decade ago, scientists announced the ability to introduce foreign genes into the mosquito genome. A year ago, scientists announced the successful use of an artificial gene that prevented a virus from replicating within mosquitoes. More Dengue Fever Current Events and Dengue Fever News Articles |
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