After Deadline
Keeping track of dengue fever
| • | Online special: Dengue fever: health crisis in the making |
By John Simonds
Advertiser Reader Representative
How to report on a growing disease without spreading panic is a challenge news media of Hawai'i and the rest of the nation have been coping with in recent days.
For Hawai'i, the immediate problem has been dengue fever, a viral illness carried by mosquitoes whose center of impact has been Maui, though it has reached other islands.
Nationally, anthrax, a lethal bacterial spore feared especially as a biochemical weapon, has struck suspiciously in a part of Florida close to activities of suspects in the events of Sept. 11. Evidence of another exposure to anthrax in New York has heightened fears.
Dengue clearly does not raise the national security concerns of anthrax, but the timing, as Hawai'i's economy battles for life, ties it to the state's recovery effort, because continuing news of the fever could affect potential visitors.
The Advertiser has exercised care in pursuing news of dengue's presence. Keeping track of each day's numbers and the status of cases is part of the newspaper's mission to be diligent, accurate and fair. Working with busy health sources has required patience, especially for those awaiting results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dengue lab in Puerto Rico.
As a community of islands, Hawai'i may feel more vulnerable to outbreaks of illness than other places. Experiences with rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, measles, flu strains, salmonella, HIV and, in earlier times, Hansen's disease (then called leprosy), have shown varying degrees of understanding and anxiety.
For newspapers to conceal or minimize the outbreak of an illness would be a disservice to the public and its health. Readers deserve complete and current reports of an evolving problem. Updated authoritative information keeps a threatening situation from seeming worse.
Maui's first dengue case occurred in early June, although state officials did not learn about it until Sept. 12, at which point it became the subject of local news coverage.
On Sept. 21, The Advertiser reported an outbreak of dengue in the East Maui village of Nahiku. Because Hawai'i had experienced only 17 cases since 1996, dengue did not appear to be a problem here. Two days later, The Advertiser noted those with dengue were not people who had visited Tahiti but Maui residents bitten by mosquitoes that had bitten infected people from elsewhere.
By Sept. 25, a story of four Maui cases contracted locally was on Page One; two days later a B6 story confirmed that four people had it and that suspected carriers on Maui had risen to 41. It returned to Page One on Sept. 29 ("Maui intensifies dengue fever fight").
On Oct. 2, an Advertiser Page B1 story said confirmed cases had risen to 27 statewide with 100 cases pending lab tests. The problem had grown "worse than feared," said the headline. State Health Director Bruce Anderson said dengue was spreading and "Maui is mosquito heaven." Oct. 3 stories said dengue may have spread beyond Maui. The following day, as two more confirmed cases made the total 21, Gov. Cayetano talked of a putting on a "full-court press" and said the problem had been contained.
Health director Anderson's "worst-case scenario" projection on Oct. 5 said dengue could infect everyone from Hawai'i and cause serious illness to 200,000 if mosquitoes were not controlled, an attention-getting Page One story.
The next day, the governor reinforced his Oct. 4 statement with an assertion that "notwithstanding press reports, we have this problem under control."
On Monday, suspected cases in Hawai'i had risen to 130, and on Wednesday confirmed cases totaled 35.
John Simonds can be reached at jsimonds@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.
