The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an advisory on Tuesday warning health care providers that dengue virus infections are at risk of increasing in the United States.
Cases of the mosquito-borne viral disease have reached record levels this year in North, Central and South America, the agency said, echoing a similar report by the World Health Organization last month.
From January 1 to June 24, the number of dengue cases in North, Central and South America exceeded 9.7 million. That’s twice as many as in 2023, the CDC said, with more cases detected among U.S. travelers than expected.
The agency has urged health providers to take measures such as promoting preventive measures, appropriate diagnostic testing and timely reporting of dengue cases to health authorities to prevent the spread of the disease.
Last month, the WHO “pre-qualified” Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ dengue vaccine Qdenga so that it can be purchased by United Nations agencies such as UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization.
Qdenga is approved in the European Union and in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina and Brazil.
French drugmaker Sanofi’s Dengvaxia is approved in several countries in North and South America, the European Union and Asia.
Dengue, transmitted by infected Aedes mosquitoes, causes symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, rash, muscle and joint pain. In some cases, severe hemorrhagic fever can occur, which can lead to bleeding, which can lead to death. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
