Sixty-five people have contracted dengue fever on Hawaii island, the state Department of Health confirmed Tuesday. That’s an additional nine cases from Monday’s tally.
The 65 cases include 48 adults and 17 children. Ten of the confirmed cases are visitors.
The last known onset date for a case of confirmed dengue is Nov. 10; the earliest, Sept. 11.
The person who became symptomatic Nov. 10 may have contracted the virus around Nov. 5, since it takes about five days for the appearance of symptoms, which typically include fever.
However, Dr. Lorrin Pang, Maui health director, says some infected people do not show symptoms, but are carriers of it.
Pang told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he suspects migrant farmworkers, including coffee pickers, may be spreading the mosquito-borne disease, and they may not be taking precautions to prevent its spread or getting tested for it.
Dengue is spread by mosquitoes that are day-biters, primarily at dawn and dusk.
Dr. Ileana Sanchez-Anderson said she and other doctors at the Keauhou Urgent Care in Kailua-Kona have seen a number of dengue cases.
“It’s an uncomfortable illness — malaise, fatigue, high fever, joint pain. They call it bone-breaking,” Sanchez-Anderson said, because it feels like one’s bones are breaking. “Sometimes you end up in the hospital.”
“There’s a good number who refuse” to get tested for dengue, she said. “We try to convince them but sometimes people are not interested. Some don’t have insurance.”
The state is conducting all the testing for dengue at its Oahu lab and is not charging patients.
