DENGUE - ITALY ex TANZANIA

Dengue, weaponized in the USA, 1972

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A ProMED-mail post

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International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Fri 9 Jul 2010
From: Giuseppe Ippolito [edited]



A case of dengue-3 [virus] infection was recently diagnosed at the
Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome,
Italy. A traveller who had returned from Zanzibar on 24 Jun 2010,
Tanzania, developed symptoms 3 days later and was admitted to the
tropical diseases ward (Director: Pasquale Narciso).

Virologists of the Institute (Maria Rosaria Capobianchi and Antonino
DiCaro) were able to detect the virus by RT-PCR in a serum sample
collected on 30 Jun [2010]; the Dengue [virus] serotype was confirmed
by sequencing of the NS5 gene. E gene sequencing is ongoing, for
further molecular characterization.

This finding confirms previous PROMED-mail postings reporting the
existence of dengue infection in Tanzania, and in Zanzibar in
particular (ProMED Archive number 20100517.1620), and supports the
hypothesis that Dengue-3 [virus] is circulating in Africa (Franco L.
et al, Recent expansion of Dengue virus serotype 3 in West Africa,
Euro-surveill. 2010;15:19490).

--
Giuseppe Ippolito MD
Scientific Director
National Institute for
Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani
Via Portuense, 29200149 Rome
Italy

[ProMED thanks Dr. Ippolito for this 1st-hand report. As he points
out, this provides addition evidence for the ongoing circulation of
dengue virus-3 in Tanzania. ProMED receives only sporadic reports on
dengue virus transmission in Africa, suggesting that these types of
reports represent the tip of a very large dengue virus African
iceberg. ProMED archive number 20100517.1620 reported 17 dengue cases
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 15 May 2010. On 9 Feb 2010 and 10 Mar
2010, 2 imported dengue virus-3 cases from Tanzania were confirmed in
Japan (see ProMED archive no. 20100323.0922).

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of
Tanzania in East Africa can be accessed at
. - Mod.TY]

[See also:
Dengue/DHF update 2010 (23) 20100517.1620
Dengue/DHF update 2010 (19) 20100420.1279
Dengue/DHF update 2010 (15) 20100323.0922]
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