Dengue Fever

Every year, an estimated 60 million people around the world contract dengue fever. Dengue is primarily a disease of the tropics, and the viruses that cause it are maintained in a cycle that involves humans and Aedes mosquito, a domestic, day-biting mosquito that prefers to feed on humans. 

Aedes mosquito, is a genus of mosquitoes  frequently found in tropical and subtropical regions. YELLOW FEVER and DENGUE are two of the diseases that can be transmitted by species of mosquito.  Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus.

Patients with dengue fever suffer muscle and joint aches, headaches and rashes. In severe cases, it can lead to bleeding and organ failure. With proper treatment, dengue fever seldom causes death, but left untreated, its severe form kills 20 percent of those infected.  Scientists are still searching for a vaccine against the disease.  Infection with one results in lifelong immunity to that serotype but may predispose a person to the more severe dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) when he or she is infected with one of the remaining three serotypes. Without immediate treatment, a patient may die.

History of Dengue

The first reported epidemics of dengue fever occurred in 1779-1780 in Asia, Africa, and North America; the near simultaneous occurrence of outbreaks on three continents indicates that these viruses and their mosquito vector have had a worldwide distribution in the tropics for more than 200 years. During most of this time, dengue fever was considered a benign, nonfatal disease of visitors to the tropics. Generally, there were long intervals (10-40 years) between major epidemics, mainly because the viruses and their mosquito vector could only be transported between population centers by sailing vessels.

A global pandemic of dengue began in Southeast Asia after World War II and has intensified during the last 15 years. Epidemics caused by multiple serotypes (hyperendemicity) are more frequent, the geographic distribution of dengue viruses and their mosquito vectors has expanded, and DHF has emerged in the Pacific region and the Americas. In Southeast Asia, epidemic DHF first appeared in the 1950s, but by 1975 it had become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in many countries in that region.

War on Dengue (Anti-Virus)

The Aedes mosquito breeds in stagnant water, so quite clearly the advice is to ensure that they don't have stagnant water standing around.  Nobody should be waiting for a dengue outbreak to start looking at the problem of stagnant water. It should be an ongoing, year-round application of good old-fashion sanitary common sense.

This is how one country handles it...

The Colombo Municipal health officials will strictly implement a one week long anti-dengue campaign from tomorrow under the banner "clean-up or pay-up". The tough stand by Municipal Health officials comes in the wake of an increasing number of dengue cases in the city over the last few months.   This preventive program which will commence tomorrow will spread for the entire week covering high risk areas in the city.