PLoS ONE (Jan 2010)

An outbreak of dengue fever in St. Croix (US Virgin Islands), 2005.

  • Hamish Mohammed,
  • Mary Ramos,
  • Julie Armstrong,
  • Jorge Muñoz-Jordán,
  • Kathleen O Arnold-Lewis,
  • Aurimar Ayala,
  • Gary G Clark,
  • Eugene S Tull,
  • Mark E Beatty

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013729
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 10
p. e13729

Abstract

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BACKGROUND: Periodic outbreaks of dengue fever occur in the United States Virgin Islands. In June 2005, an outbreak of dengue virus (DENV) serotype-2 with cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) was detected in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The objective of this report is to describe this outbreak of DENV-2 and the findings of a case-control study examining risk factors for DHF. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This is the largest dengue outbreak ever recorded in St. Croix, with 331 suspected dengue cases reported island-wide during 2005 (62.2 cases/10,000 population); 54% were hospitalized, 21% had at least one hemorrhagic manifestation, 28% had thrombocytopenia, 5% had DHF and 1 patient died. Eighty-nine laboratory-positive hospitalized patients were identified. Of these, there were 15 (17%) who met the WHO criteria for DHF (cases) and 74 (83%) who did not (controls). The only variable significantly associated with DHF on bivariate or multivariable analysis was age, with an adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.033 (1.003,1.064). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: During this outbreak of DENV-2, a high proportion of cases developed DHF and increasing age was significantly associated with DHF.