Your Summer Health Scare: Dengue Fever to Liquefy New York
As the spring turns into summer, you might as well know what's going to kill you this year. It's dengue fever and it's from Florida and it will liquefy your vital organs. According to Crain's, it has already been diagnosed "in dozens of people in Key West, Fla., and even in a woman from Rochester, N.Y. who had visited Florida last year."
And even if the disease doesn't go viral, surely the media-created panic will.
But how will it spread? Easier and quicker than you ever imagined.
Since dengue fever can be transmitted both by mosquitoes and blood transfusions, infectious disease experts say it could spread to other parts of the U.S. if an infected traveler brings it home.
And, of course, it's coming for New York (and New Jersey, too):
Since many New Yorkers travel back and forth to the Florida Keys, Columbia University public health expert Dr. Ian Lipkin said there is reason for concern. "It's a reasonable thing to wonder whether there have been other undiagnosed cases," Dr. Lipkin said, adding that two types of mosquitoes known to spread the illness are common in New York and New Jersey.
Oh, and one more thing: "These medications are close to being available," he said, "but we're not there yet."
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