Experts in the dengue virus converged on Syracuse recently to develop plans to reduce the debilitating mosquito borne disease.
According to the CDC, the incidence of dengue fever this year is the highest ever reported. That added urgency to a the second annual Dengue Endgame Summit in Syracuse, sponsored by Upstate Medical University. The summit is meant to bring scientists together to develop strategies to deal with the disease. CDC Epidemiologist Laura Adams said numbers of the disease are growing.
"Globally, we are seeing higher numbers of dengue cases, both last year and this year," Adams said. "And so this group is here to see, you know, what works for prevention? How can we work towards preventing more cases? And if people get dengue, also having really effective ways, methods of treatment.”
She said most of the cases have been identified in Florida.
"And most of those cases are among people, again, who've traveled to an area where dengue is common outside of the U.S. and then came back and got tested here in the U.S. and found out that they had dengue," Adams said. "In Florida, this year, we've also seen a few cases of people who didn't travel and still got dengue while in Florida, but those numbers are much smaller than the number of people who've got dengue while traveling."
Upstate has been involved in developing a vaccine against dengue viruses, which are transmitted by mosquitos. Adams said individuals in central New York needn’t worry about dengue unless they’ve been traveling, because the mosquitos that carry the disease can’t survive here.
