Dengue Fever in US
...orld population (2.5 billion people) are at risk in tropics and sub-tropics During 1998 over 1.2 million cases with 3,442 deaths were reported to WHO for any single year. As per estimates, over 50 million infections with about 400,000 cases of DHF are reported annually which is a leading cause of childhood mortality in several Asian countries.” However, sometime ago around 1950s to 1960s, Dengue fever emerged as the most dramatic and important public health problem in American region within the Caribbean islands. As a result, “Pan American Health Organization started a campaign that eradicated the mosquitoes which succeeded by 1970” (CDC). However the mosquito began to re-infest the country even more furiously and as a result the geographic distribution of Aedes mosquito in 2002 had become much wider (CDC map). Hence, US is still under possible threat of dengue fever disease. There are several factors supporting the possible resurgence of outbreak in US. Firstly, there are no effective mosquito control efforts yet despite efforts from healthcare sectors. For instance, during the 1950s and 1960s resulted the successful eradication of this species from many neighboring countries, but it was never eliminated from the southeastern United States, where it continues to thrive (CDC). Secondly, public health systems that detect and control the epidemics are deteriorating around the world. Worse, in some poor countries like India where they cant afford a proper medical service. The number of dengue infected patients kept arising (Chandigarh Tribune). Thirdly, increase in jet air travel within US is helping infected people to travel from city to city. US Department of Transportation Statistics shows that “commercial airline flights increased nearly 7 percent from November 1999 to November 2000 and the number of passengers carried on those flights increased by more than 4 percent.” (BTS) Fourthly, growth of cities has led to overcrowding, urban decay, and substandard sanitation worsened by insufficient education has allowed more mosquitoes to live closer more to the people. As a result, “Brig D.S. Dhillon and Col Ashwani Sharma have offered to deploy the NCC cadets under their commands for edu...