The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is concerned about the U.S. blood supply due to underreporting of dengue fever.
Dengue fever is a growing public health threat in tropical countries, as well as to travelers to destinations such as Thailand, Brazil and Puerto Rico.
The Northbrook, Ill., society said dengue, believed to infect millions of people annually in developing countries as well as causing some infections in Texas near the Mexican border, is usually transmitted by mosquitoes. But a recent study suggests the sometimes fatal disease might be transferred through the nation's blood supply.
Researchers believe dengue is grossly underreported in many countries. During 2004, 557,000 cases and 1,800 deaths were reported globally to the World Health Organization, but projected dengue infection was more than 8 million cases with nearly 20,000 deaths. In addition to underreporting, the lack of an accurate diagnostic test means some milder forms of dengue might be misdiagnosed as influenza, the study said.
The research is to be presented next month in Philadelphia during the organization's 56th annual meeting.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Related stories:
Scientists Discover Which Waters Egg-Laying Mosquitoes Like Best
Scientists at Tulane and North Carolina State universities have identified the chemical cues in water that entice yellow fever mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The study is the first to isolate the compounds that the finicky mosquitoes look for to breed in open water containers.The findings are significant because they could lead to the development of targeted lures to control the insects, which also spread dengue fever in more than 100 countries across the globe.
The insect vector always bites twice
The reality of the threat from vector-borne diseases has been recognized and the problem is prompting research scientists to take a strong interest. Most of these infections, classified as emerging or re-emerging diseases, are linked to ecosystem changes, climatic variations or pressure from human activities. Malaria, sleeping sickness and so on lead to the death of millions of people in the world. African countries are particularly strongly hit. The expansion of Dengue fever and the recent epidemics of Chikungunya and West Nile disease illustrate the trend.
Nanotech promises big things for poor -- but will promises be kept?
"Nanotechnology has the potential to generate enormous health benefits for the more than five billion people living in the developing world," according to Dr. Peter A. Singer, senior scientist at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto. "Nanotechnology might provide less-industrialized countries with powerful new tools for diagnosing and treating disease, and might increase the availability of clean water."
Scientists discover chemical cues that stimulate egg laying by pregnant mosquitoes
North Carolina State University scientists have figured out one reason why pregnant yellow fever mosquitoes (
Aedes aegypti), one of the most important disease transmitters worldwide, choose to lay their eggs in certain outdoor water containers while eschewing others.
More disease outbreaks in Europe with climate change: experts
Europe could face an increase in outbreaks of diseases carried by insects and rodents as the climate on the continent becomes hotter and wetter, EU health experts said Friday.
Taking the temperature of the no-fly zone
Flies, unlike humans, can't manipulate the temperature of their surroundings so they need to pick the best spot for flourishing. New Brandeis University research in this week's
Nature reveals that they have internal thermosensors to help them.
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.
Scientists 'paint' viruses to track their fate in the body
Biologists from Austria and Singapore developed a technique that adds a new twist on the relationship between biology and art. In an article recently published online in
The FASEB Journal and scheduled for the August 2008 print issue, these researchers describe how they were able to coat—or paint—viruses with proteins.