US Faces 'Enormous' Growing Threat from Tropical Viruses, Experts Warn

Global public health experts are warning that the United States is not prepared for looming threats posed by tropical and insect-borne viruses.

At a two-day workshop this week at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, D.C., experts said arboviral threats, or mosquito- and tick-borne viruses, are spreading in non-tropical environments.

Tropical diseases such as malaria, Zika and dengue fever have all seen U.S. transmissions and outbreaks in recent years. Experts said increased globalization and climate change allow the tropical insects and diseases to thrive in southern, eastern and western U.S. states, especially.

The first U.S. cases of malaria in 20 years were reported in June. CDC spokesperson Kate Fowlie noted the response to those cases in Florida and Texas as a pivotal, recent example of halting the spread of a mosquito-transmitted disease.

"The CDC is working hard with its federal, territorial, state, and local partners to address the growing threat of vector-borne diseases," Fowlie told Newsweek via email. "One recent example of the importance of this work is when CDC, state and local partners worked successfully together to help prevent ongoing transmission of malaria earlier this year. This effort underscores the importance of supporting efforts to prepare for, prevent and respond to vector-borne diseases."

"If we don't do anything, which is basically what we're doing right now, it's going to get worse," Thomas Scott, a medical entomologist and professor emeritus at University of California, Davis, said during the workshop. "The damage from inaction is enormous, it's unacceptable. It's unethical."

Newsweek reached out to Scott for comment.

National Public Radio (NPR) reported on Friday that the U.S. has lost a lot of its ability to track insects. In 1927, every state had its own entomologist. Currently, only 16 states have an entomologist, according to Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC.

"That means the nation's ability to monitor viruses like West Nile is sparse. We're not getting great information because we haven't maintained our infrastructure," Staples told the conference.

Officials recently predicted record numbers of dengue fever infections by the end of the year. The chief scientist for the World Health Organization (WHO), Jeremy Farrar, has warned that the disease is expected to begin spreading into other, non-tropical parts of the world, including Europe, North America, and southern regions in Africa.

Developing out of an initial infection with the dengue virus, the disease can result in a high fever, headaches, vomiting, and prominent skin rashes. Also known as "breakbone fever," dengue fever is also known to result in joint pain and muscle spasms.

Data from the CDC suggests that around 5 percent of infectees will develop a severe case of dengue fever, which can heavily impact blood health and result in bleeding, while around 1 percent will develop a case that is ultimately fatal. The disease is particularly common in Asia and Latin America, where it causes an estimated 20,000 deaths per year.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported about the rise of dengue fever in Mali, an arid, West African country.

The country's director general of health and public hygiene, Dr. Cheick Amadou Tidiane Traore, told the AP that his department had counted 21 deaths and 600 cases of the disease as of Monday, December 4.

Meanwhile, experts at the National Academies conference pointed to Singapore as a country that has shown the ability to control its mosquito population.

They said the country's surveillance program to track dengue cases by neighborhood and its phone alerts when cases are rising, are active approaches the U.S. could mimic. Residents in Singapore can also be fined or jailed for harboring mosquito breeding sites at home.

Update 12/18/23, 6:06 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to add a statement from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).