Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A case of dengue type 3 virus infection imported from Africa to Italy, October 2009

2010; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; Volume: 15; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2807/ese.15.07.19487-en

1560-7917

Carla Nisii, Fabrizio Carletti, Concetta Castilletti, Licia Bordi, Silvia Meschi, Marina Selleri, Roberta Chiappini, Damiano Travaglini, Mario Antonini, Sergio Castorina, F. Lauria, P Narciso, Marco Gentile, Lorena Martini, Giovanni Di Perri, Sabrina Audagnotto, Roberto Biselli, M Lastilla, Antonino Di, Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, Giuseppe Ippolito,

Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research

In October 2009, a traveller returning from Africa to Italy was hospitalised with symptoms suggestive of a haemorrhagic fever of unknown origin. The patient was immediately placed in a special biocontainment unit until laboratory investigations confirmed the infection to be caused by a dengue serotype 3 virus. This case reasserts the importance of returning travellers as sentinels of unknown outbreaks occurring in other countries, and highlights how the initial symptoms of dengue fever resemble those of other haemorrhagic fevers, hence the importance of prompt isolation of patients until a final diagnosis is reached.