[Dengue in Panama, 1993].

Up to 1993, Panama was the only country in Central America where the autochthonous transmission of dengue virus had been detected without experimenting an explosive epidemic despite being reinfected with the Aedes aegypti mosquito since 1985. The characteristics of this first outbreak reported on November 19, 1993, are described in this paper. It is shown that even when there is a Program for the Surveillance and Control of Dengue, which considers low levels of Aedes aegypti infection and a system for the early detection of the virus, the epidemics appear if the community does not take an active part as it happened in 1994, 1995, and 1996. The 14 cases reported were located in an area under the responsibility of the Health Center in San Isidro, Belisario Porras, Special District of San Miguelito, in Panama City (13 cases in 4 blocks of the sector of Santa Librada and 1 case in San Isidro Valley). 3 patients were under 15 and 8 over 36, the other 3 were between 15 and 24.9 were females. The dengue type 2 virus was isolated in 3 patients. The presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to dengue was demonstrated in 11 patients, whereas in 8 over 20 it was observed a secondary type answer. According to the clinical picture, the epidemic was classified as dengue fever. The seroepidemiological survey carried out in the sector of Santa Librada and its surroundings 5 months after the appearance of the symptoms in the first case showed a prevalence of antibodies to dengue of 5.7% (46/802), mainly among individuals over 44. These results confirmed that the outbreak was geographically limited.