Aedes aegypti is a type of mosquito that transmits dengue. The blood-suckers have been found in Tucson the past three summers. Dengue, also known as breakbone fever, is painful but rarely fatal. It is transmitted by mosquitoes and cannot be passed from person to person. It is characterized by high fever, intense headache, pain behind the eyes, backache, joint pains and sometimes a rash.
Dengue is fairly common in some tropical regions.
In Brazil, about 155,000 cases were reported last year, Hagedorn said. Last summer a 400-case outbreak occurred about 200 miles south of Arizona in Hermosillo, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. In the United States, most dengue cases occur in people who became infected while visiting another country. However, Texas reported seven cases in 1995 that apparently were acquired in the state. Two Arizona dengue cases were reported in 1994, but both of those individuals contracted the disease in a foreign country.