Dengue fever in Costa Rica and Panama.

In October and November 1993 Costa Rica and Panama detected indigenous transmission of dengue fever in their territories. The reappearance of the disease in these countries occurred after more than 40 years of absence in Costa Rica and more than 50 years in Panama. Consequently, there are no longer any continental Latin American tropical countries freefrom denguefever. In the last 10years, with the exception of Cuba, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, dengue fever has been reported by practically all the other Caribbean countries and territories. The continued progress of dengue fever and of dengue hemorrhagicfever in the Region of the Americas is due to the dissemination and increase in the populations ofAedes aegypti and the consequent circulation of multiple serotypes of the dengue virus. This, in turn, reflects thefailure of the program to eradicate Aedes aegypti in the Americas. This program achieved its greatest success at the beginning of the 1960s; however, due to several causes, it gradually disintegrated. Reportsprepared by the health authorities of Costa Rica and of Panama are presented herein describing the occurrence of denguefever in these countries in 1993. It is noteworthy that the epidemic in Costa Rica was caused by dengue type 1 virus, while that in Panama was caused by dengue type 2 virus. Since they are neighboring countries it was to be expected that they would be affected by the same serotype of the virus. As of April 1994, only 14 autochthonous cases were registered in Panama, in addition to one imported case. This apparent interruption of the transmission of dengue fever demonstrates the response capacity of the country's dengue surveillance and control program.