West Nile virus season is off to an early start this year, which doesn’t bode well for what’s to come. Most West Nile virus exposures in the United States occur from July through October, with a peak during the first two weeks of August. Peak season in Texas is under way, and there are already 336 cases of West Nile illnesses, including 14 deaths reported as of August 13, making this the largest outbreak of West Nile virus in Texas since 2003. The virus has been appearing in many parts of the country, but almost half of the cases are in Texas and the numbers are rising.
Selected Category: Vectorborne
West Nile Virus: Recent Surge in Cases Sparks Concern in Texas
Categories: Disease Outbreak, General, Vectorborne
August 16th, 2012 10:37 am ET - Blog Administrator
Real-life Contagion: Part 2
Categories: Disease Investigation, General, Response, Vectorborne
December 30th, 2011 9:40 am ET -
By Tyler M. Sharp, PhD
Before we left off in Part 1 I had just gotten on a boat to visit a small atoll in the Marshall Islands affected by the dengue outbreak…
Establishing surveillance on the outer islands included monitoring for dengue-like symptoms and testing with a rapid diagnostic test, demonstrated here
A few days earlier we had identified a small cluster of cases on Arno, a small atoll about 30 miles from Majuro. I traveled by boat to Arno where I was able to provide clinical education, help the health assistants set up surveillance, and teach them how to use the dengue rapid diagnostic test. The hours on the boat gave me plenty of time to relax, think, and plan my next move: something that I probably would not have done if I had stayed in Majuro. Luckily, my WHO colleague had much more experience in emergency management than I, and he had done an excellent job of getting things under control back at the hospital.
Real-life Contagion: Governments unite to fight dengue outbreak in Marshall Islands
Categories: Disease Investigation, General, Vectorborne
December 22nd, 2011 9:26 pm ET -
By Tyler M. Sharp, PhD
The whole thing was straight out of a movie. An outbreak of dengue fever on a small island chain in the middle of the Pacific. A local government requesting assistance to control the outbreak. In the end, CDC, the US Department of Defense, the World Health Organization (WHO), USAID, local governments as well as those of Taiwan, Japan and Australia were involved in the response. If we were going to succeed in our mission, we all had to communicate and work together. Amazingly, through concerted teamwork over many long days, we ultimately worked as one unit and beat the outbreak.
Breakbone Fever Attacks Enchanted Island: Battling the 2010 Dengue Epidemic in Puerto Rico
Categories: General, Vectorborne
August 15th, 2011 11:22 am ET -
by Tyler M. Sharp, PhD
Paradise Has Its Risks
Given the choice I prefer my bones to remain unbroken. For that reason I began to worry when I found out that the disease I would be studying for the next two years in Puerto Rico was also referred to as “breakbone fever.”
Vampire Diaries: Getting Back to My Roots Through a Deadly Outbreak
Categories: General, Vectorborne
June 20th, 2011 3:15 pm ET - Blog Administrator
By Lizette Durand
Setting the Scene
Last August, villagers in a secluded section of Peru fell prey to blood sucking vampire bats infected with rabies. It sounds like the premise for the next vampire movie, but this wasn’t a story line thought up in Hollywood, it was the real deal.
The Truth is Out There: What You Need to Know About Bats
Categories: Vectorborne
July 2nd, 2010 11:57 am ET - Ali S. Khan
Even though bats can spread diseases to people, they also benefit people in many ways and are usually able to peacefully exist alongside humans.
Warm weather is here, and you know what that means — more people are headed outdoors. You might even be involved in summertime activities that take you into places such as woods, forests and caves. But you might not know about the risks associated with an animal often found in these areas: bats.
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