Dengue en Colombia

Abstract

In 1947 the Colombian goverment established a campain for the erradication of Aedes aegypti in the country, following the recomendations of the Pan American Sanitaq Bureau. This campaign caused the disappearance of endemic dengue for approximately 20 years until it reappeared in explosive form with the epidemic of dengue 2 on the Atlantic Coast (1971-1972), followed by two documented large epidemics of dengue 3 (1975-1977) and dengue 1 in 1978. A summary is given of the activities developed by the virus laboratory of the National Institute of Health to aid the diagnosis of this disease in the country, including the first isolation of dengue 4 virus in 1982, the activity of dengue 1 ,- 2 and 4 viruses to the present time, the clinical and virological findings of a hemorragic case associated to dengue virus infection and a short report of the epidemic of Tumaco on the Pacific Coast, in which the simultaneous activity of dengue 1 and dengue 2 viruses was demonstrated. Finally, information is given on the current status of Aedes aegypti infestation in the country and about the activity of yellow fever virus in sylvatic foci close to heavily infected cities, detected in the month of January, 1987 in Colombia.