Dengue Fever Confirmed in Hawaii

Federal health officials confirmed that four people on Maui contracted dengue fever over the summer, the first cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Hawaii in more than 50 years, state officials said.

Dengue fever is rarely fatal, and the four people confirmed to have had it have recovered.

Still, state health officials are urging people in eastern Maui, a sparsely populated area that is largely rain forest, to take precautions and eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnoses of four cases in Hana and Nahiku on Friday, said Dr. Bruce Anderson, the state health department’s director.

At least 20 more suspected cases are awaiting confirmation from the CDC, said Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the health department.

“Dengue can be a very serious problem in areas where it hasn’t appeared recently,” Anderson said. “Typically epidemics tend to be widespread and difficult to control.”

Symptoms of dengue fever include fever, headache and rashes on the palms and feet. The more serious dengue hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate of 5%, according to the CDC. There is no dengue vaccine.

The state had recorded 21 cases of dengue fever this year, but the patients contracted the disease elsewhere before coming to Hawaii, Anderson said.

He said Tahiti and several other South Pacific islands are having serious problems with dengue. Several cases were reported on American Samoa in July, and an outbreak of 400 cases was reported on Samoa in June.

The cases in Hawaii are the first in more than 50 years in which the infected person had not left the islands, Anderson said.

The state plans to spray insecticides around homes in the affected area, Anderson said. He said it can take up to a year to wipe out dengue from an area once it’s taken hold.