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EID’s are Emerging Infectious Diseases, and many are transmitted by mosquitoes and other insect vectors The CDC maintains a website by their DVBID (Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases) that covers many of these emerging pathogens.
Bacterial
Diseases BranchArboviral
Diseases Branch
- Chikungunya
- Eastern Equine Encephalitis
- Japanese Encephalitis
- LaCrosse Encephalitis
- Saint Louis Encephalitis
- West Nile Encephalitis
- Western Equine Encephalitis
- Yellow Fever
- Others
Dengue
Branch
Quite a rogues gallery of nasty diseases, many of which are on the comeback trail here in the United States.
We’ve a press release from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) expressing deep concern over proposed budget cuts in the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases.
Dengue Fever and Insect-Borne Infections Emerging as Public Health Problem in Areas of the United States
- Areas of Texas and Florida report recent cases of dengue fever, a virus-based disease spread by mosquitoes -
- The American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene supports continued funding of government programs to detect and control diseases transmitted by insects and ticks, as Obama's 2011 budget threatens to cut funding -
Press Release Source: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene On Tuesday July 27, 2010, 2:00 pm EDT
DEERFIELD, Ill., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Several cases of dengue fever, a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of urban dwelling Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, have recently been reported in the continental United States. Prevalent in Central America and the Caribbean, dengue fever's most common symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and body aches lasting several days. The disease's more threatening form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause internal bleeding, loss of blood pressure, and death. Over the past five years, outbreaks of both forms of the disease have been reported in Texas and Florida.
Despite the threat of further introduction of dengue into the mainland United States, as well as the risk of introduction of additional vector-borne diseases, President Obama's 2011 fiscal budget reduces to zero the funding to support the vector-borne infectious disease program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the only national program that focuses of detection and outbreak control of vector-borne diseases including dengue, plague, viral encephalitis and Lyme disease.
"At the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, we are concerned that the currently proposed 2011 budget would not provide sufficient funding for this important government function. One in fifty people in the world dies of an illness acquired from an insect bite, and tens of thousands of Americans already fall ill each year from infections transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks. Insects do not respect state borders, and neither can our national response," said Edward T. Ryan, M.D., President, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). "Although we recognize and applaud the need to constantly scan the Federal budget to identify outdated or unnecessary programs, eliminating the CDC's vector-borne infectious disease program is not one of these areas. The proposed cuts to this program would be shortsighted, and would harm the health of the American people."
While I recognize the need to get some control over the ballooning budget, it seems to me that the CDC should be among the last places to make substantial cuts.
