Is dengue fever headed for U.S.?

• Position: Your Life

The reported number of dengue fever cases in Sonora, Mexico, has been increasing in the last several years, and the disease appears to be moving north toward the U.S. The dengue fever season in Sonora peaks in mid October after the summer rainy season. Biologists from the University of Arizona in Tucson are teaming up with health officials from the Mexican state to learn more about the mosquitoes that carry dengue and West Nile viruses and about the disease-causing organisms.

Dengue fever sometimes is called "break-bone fever" because it is so painful. One form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, is fatal in about five percent of patients. Currently, there is no vaccine against the disease. "The way to look at it is dengue is an enemy" declares Therese Ann Markow, director of the Center for Insect Science and regents professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "The idea is to get to know your enemy well in order to know its weak spots."

The...