Texas Lifestyle Limits Transmission of Dengue Virus
Paul L. Reitera b✉, Sarah L. Lathropa, Michel L. Bunninga, Brad J. Biggerstaffa, Daniel A. Singera, Tejpratap Tiwaria, Laura M. Baberc, Manuel Amadora, Jaime Thiriond, Jack Hayese, Calixto Secaf, Jorge Luis Jativa Mendezd, Bernardo Ramirezg, Jerome Robinsonc, Julie Rawlingsf, Vance Vorndama, Stephen H. Watermana, Duane J. Gublera, Gary G. Clarka, Edward B. Hayesa
- aCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- bCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. preiter@hsph.harvard.edu
- cCity of Laredo Health Department, Laredo, Texas, USA
- dSecretaria de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico
- eUniversity of Texas, Boerne, Texas, USA
- fTexas Department of Health, Laredo, Texas, USA
- gSecretaria de Salud de Tamaulipas, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
Urban dengue is common in most countries of the Americas, but has been rare in the United States for more than half a century. In 1999 we investigated an outbreak of the disease that affected Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas, United States, contiguous cities that straddle the international border. The incidence of recent cases, indicated by immunoglobulin M antibody serosurvey, was higher in Nuevo Laredo, although the vector, Aedes aegypti, was more abundant in Laredo. Environmental factors that affect contact with mosquitoes, such as air-conditioning and human behavior, appear to account for this paradox. We conclude that the low prevalence of dengue in the United States is primarily due to economic, rather than climatic, factors.
TL;DRIt is concluded that the low prevalence of dengue in the United States is primarily due to economic, rather than climatic, factors. (Semantic Scholar)