KFF Health News May 20, 2024
When a doctor in Pasadena, California, reported in October that a hospital patient was exhibiting classic symptoms of dengue fever, such as vomiting, a rash, and bone and joint pain, local disease investigators snapped into action.
The mosquito-borne virus is common in places like Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Latin America, and when Americans contract the disease it is usually while traveling. But in this case, the patient hadn’t left California.
Epidemiologists and public health nurses visited 175 households to conduct blood draws and local pest control workers began fumigating the patient’s neighborhood. In the process, they discovered a second infected person who hadn’t traveled.
Both patients recovered, and in that neighborhood nearly 65% of the carrier mosquitoes, part of...
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