By Hillary Copsey, TCPalm.com
July 15, 2010
TRADITION — A outbreak of dengue fever could be a boon for researchers at VGTI Florida.
Scientists in both the Oregon and Florida offices of the Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute have been working for years to find a vaccine and treatment for dengue fever, a viral disease spread by mosquitoes that affects more than 100 million people each year worldwide.
Dengue fever has been absent from Florida since the last major outbreak in 1934, largely because of improved mosquito control. But this year, as many as 5 percent of Key West residents have been exposed to the disease also known as breakbone fever, and a suspected case was reported Thursday in Miami.
“We kind of predicted this. It’s one of the reasons we came to Florida,” said Jay Nelson, executive director of VGTI Florida. “Florida is really a portal for entry for a lot of these emerging diseases.”
Nelson has personally been studying dengue fever for more than five years, most recently at the VGTI Florida labs at the Florida Center for Innovation in Tradition. The VGTI team is trying to find a compound to treat dengue fever. Right now, doctors can treat only the fever, aches and other symptoms of the disease.
Though dengue is rarely fatal, the illness is marked by pain and malaise severe enough to earn it another nickname: bonecrusher disease.
“Primarily, the disease itself is an immune disease,” Nelson said. “ ... The virus infects the cells, but the problem is that the immune response to the virus is so overwhelming that it causes all these awful symptoms. We still don’t understand how that happens.”
VGTI Florida already is in contact with Miami-Dade County health officials in hopes of looking at the immune response in local dengue cases, Nelson said. The outbreak in Florida — inevitable, Nelson said, because of the state’s melting pot population and climate — gives researchers a chance to study strains of dengue from their own backyard, instead of from around the world.
Researchers also are trying to find a vaccine for dengue, which has four different strains. They hope to use the most recent outbreak to try to figure out how the immune cells are programmed to respond to the dengue virus.
The trick to finding a vaccine is getting the body to build up immunity to the virus without overreacting, as it does normally. Discovering why the immune system overreacts is a key step.
“This really offers us an opportunity to look at this,” Nelson said. “An incredible opportunity.”
Researchers at VGTI Florida are trying to find a vaccine and treatment for dengue fever, but that could be years in the making. In the meantime, health officials say the best prevention against “break-bone fever” is avoiding mosquitoes.
STOPPING DENGUE FEVER
Get rid of standing water in your yard or garden where mosquitoes live and breed.
Avoid being outside at dusk and dawn, when the insects are most active.
When you are outside, keep as much of your body covered as possible with long sleeves and pants.
Use insect repellent, preferrably with DEET. The compound is considered safe for use on all but newborns.
DENGUE FEVER SYMPTOMS
Most cases of dengue fever, descriptively known as break-bone fever, are not fatal. About four to seven days after being bitten by a dengue-carrying mosquito, you might have:
high fever, up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
rash over most of your body that might go away and then reappear.
severe headache, backache or both
pain behind your eyes
severe joint and muscle pain
nausea and vomiting
Note: Symptoms can be treated separately by a doctor and usually subside after about a week.
Source: Local health officials; Mayo Clinic