Outbreak of Dengue Virus Type 2 - American Samoa, November 2016-October 2018.

Outbreak of Dengue Virus Type 2 - American Samoa, November 2016-October 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018 Nov 30;67(47):1319-1322 Authors: Cotter CJ, Tufa AJ, Johnson S, Matai'a M, Sciulli R, Ryff KR, Hancock WT, Whelen C, Sharp TM, Anesi MS Abstract The U.S. territory of American Samoa has experienced recent outbreaks of illnesses caused by viruses transmitted by Aedes species mosquitoes, including dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus. In November 2016, a traveler from the Solomon Islands tested positive for infection with dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2). Additional dengue cases were identified in the subsequent weeks through passive and active surveillance. Suspected dengue cases were tested locally with a dengue rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1). Specimens from RDT-positive cases and patients meeting the dengue case definition were tested by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) at Hawaii State Laboratories. During November 2016-October 2018, a total of 3,240 patients were tested for evidence of DENV infection (118 by RDT-NS1 alone, 1,089 by real-time RT-PCR alone, and 2,033 by both methods), 1,081 (33.4%) of whom tested positive for dengue (19.5 per 1,000 population). All 941 real-time RT-PCR-positive specimens were positive for DENV-2. The monthly number of laboratory-confirmed cases peaked at 120 during December 2017. Among laboratory-confirmed dengue cases...
Source: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkl... - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Tags: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep Source Type: research