PUBLIC HEALTH


Crossing the border Tropical diseases on the rise in Texas


Earl Matthew, MD, an internist and infectious disease specialist in Corpus Christi, says physicians should be on the lookout for dengue and other tropical infectious diseases as humidity increases.


“It feels like all


your bones are going to break.”


BY KARA NUZBACK Hot, humid locations like Southeast Texas provide the perfect environment for the spread of viruses travelers typically bring back to the United States after a trip to the tropics. Earl Matthew, MD, a Corpus Christi infectious disease specialist, says just as West Nile virus spread to New York in the early 2000s and then across the country, den- gue and other diseases that travel via mosquito can make their way to the U.S. Gulf Coast. “We have the potential for dengue to spread to the southern United States, no


September 2014 TEXAS MEDICINE 41


BRETT BUCHANAN


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