Vance Vorndam

TL;DR: Molecular evolution in DENV-2 from Puerto Rico (PR) and surrounding countries was examined over a 20 year period of fluctuating disease incidence, and strong evidence was found for positive selection acting on a number of amino acid sites in the envelope gene, which have also been important in defining phylogenetic structure.

TL;DR: The reappearance of DEN-3 and its subsequent circulation from 1999 to 2001 produced no changes in dengue incidence that could have been detected in the absence of virologic surveillance.

TL;DR: The data for serologically confirmed cases suggest that in Puerto Rico the manifestations of dengue fever are more prominent among those who are experiencing secondary infections, and this effect may be more marked in the younger age groups.

TL;DR: A microneutralization test that measures anti-dengue antibodies was developed that provided results that are essentially the same as those from the plaque-reduction neutralization test for serum samples from primary dengue virus infections, but results correlated poorly with results from samples from people with secondary infections.

TL;DR: The sequenced E gene and adjacent prM/M and NS1 junctions of 48 Dengue-4 isolates collected between 1981 and 1999 suggest that efforts to understand disease dynamics in the Caribbean basin need to focus at regional, rather than local scales.