Cases of acquired local dengue fever in Honolulu Hawaii are now under investigation after two incidents had been confirmed according to the Department of Health. There are also four other cases in pending. The six victims were tourists and locals of the Big Island.
Charles Trippy, a YouTube star, together with his girlfriend, Allie Wesenberg, visited the island with other YouTube personalities. After returning home to Florida, Wesenberg was rushed to the hospital as reported by Hawaii News Now, Friday.
"I think my body started to ache. Not just muscles, it was like my bones hurt it was awful," says Wesenberg in her video blog. She was covered in blanket with a surgical mask.
Wesenberg was confined for almost a week in the hospital. After various tests conducted, the doctors confirmed that she was infected with dengue fever. Her entire experience was captured and uploaded to their YouTube channel CTFxC with 1.5 million subscribers. The couple also added that Hawaii should expect more cases in the coming days.
"We've been talking with the Hawaiian Health Department," shares Trippy in their YouTube channel. "And they're kinda helping us right now because they're afraid that other people..."
"We'll they're concerned," interrupts Wesenberg.
According to Dr. Melissa Viray, state Department of Health deputy epidemiologist, they are looking into "different cases on the Big Island and we're looking at their different exposures, and we're trying to see where their exposures might have been in common."
"We're always on the lookout for an incident like this because dengue doesn't happen here. We don't have local dengue in our mosquitoes." She also said that mosquito activities are closely monitored so an outbreak can be controlled.
Trippy and Wesenberg are concerned that more people in their group might have been infected as well.
"Hopefully everyone gets better but I think we're at eight or nine people out of the 12 or 13 people that were actually at the thing that have gotten sick and gone to the hospital," adds Trippy.
Viray advises visitors to always be cautious in areas with mosquitoes.
"What this is telling us is we're not going to get a warning in the future," she said.
