CDC Joins Investigation as Dengue Fever Cases in Hawaii Tops 100

Health officials in Hawaii are getting help from the CDC to control the ongoing outbreak of dengue fever on the Big Island.

Since September there have been 117 confirmed cases of the mosquito-born disease, according to the state department of health. Twenty-nine of those sick are children under the age 18. The majority of the ill patients, 103, are local residents.

Dengue fever is transmitted to humans when they are bit by infected mosquitoes. There are two types of mosquitos — Aedes aegypto and Aedes albopictus — that can transmit the virus, and both types are found in Hawaii.

This is the first locally transmitted outbreak of the viral illness on the Big Island and the first outbreak in the state since five people were infected on the island of Oahu in 2011.

Dengue usually occurs in tropical Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. The virus is not endemic in Hawaii but is sometimes brought in by infected travelers, which is how state health officials believe this outbreak started.

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