Dengue fever explained
Dengue fever is a deadly mosquito-borne viral infection currently spreading throughout Europe.
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Mosquitoes are infecting people with dengue across America. Historical standards And American travelers are bringing home the life-threatening virus. The alarming rise in infections has prompted US health officials to warn of the danger.
In South America, cases of the tropical disease are decreasing during the cooler winter months after dengue cases have been recorded. But experts warn that more people will be affected in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean due to summer and hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere.
While the risk of local spread in the United States is low, officials are concerned about how much dengue the country could handle in the coming years. Climate change is causing severe droughts, followed by heavy rains – the spread of dengue, the worst House of Egypt The mosquito has never completely disappeared from the United States.
Egypt likes to eat human blood and dense urban areas provide opportunities for it to spread, creating a risk of persistent local transmission of dengue in this country.
“We are expected to have an increase,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health who specializes in dengue fever. Climate change will increase the spread of dengue and other communicable viruses. I think the question is what do we do about it?
In the first half of 2024, the number of dengue cases in the United States and its territories will exceed any year in the past decade. The cases stemmed from travel and people bitten by Aedes mosquitoes in foreign countries, as well as local transmission in Puerto Rico, prompting officials to declare a public health emergency in March.
In late June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory warning of an increased risk of dengue in the US.
Recent extreme weather events such as Cyclone Beryl create additional hazards by providing small amounts of stagnant water, an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes and the spread of dengue.
Dengue symptoms, causes
Most people with dengue do not show symptoms. But those who do can develop a high fever, body aches, nausea, and a rash. Most will recover within two weeks World Health Organization.
Some infections are so severe that they require hospitalization or, in rare cases, they can kill. Severe dengue occurs in 1 in 20 infections and includes vomiting, restlessness, rapid breathing, and bleeding gums, nose, or stool. Infants, the elderly, and pregnant women are at higher risk of developing severe disease. CDC he said.
With repeated infections, the risk of developing severe dengue is high.
There are four different strains of the dengue virus, each of which lasts only a few years.
The same strain of A. aegypti that causes dengue is notorious for causing deadly diseases like yellow fever and Zika.
While dengue-carrying mosquitoes can infect humans, infected people — including those who show no symptoms — can introduce the virus to mosquitoes in the area. And once infected, a mosquito can transmit the virus for the rest of its life, according to the World Health Organization. This will help prevent the spread of dengue.
Spread fast and far
A. Egyptian mosquitoes can lay eggs in small amounts of water, such as bottle caps, pipes, broken pots, or any surface that collects water.
“They’re pretty ubiquitous,” said Dr. Gabriela Paz Bailey, chief of the CDC’s dengue branch.
Over the past decades, Dengin and A. After the failure of international campaigns to eradicate it in Egypt, the rise of dengue has been seen globally. In 2000, there were half a million cases of dengue. In 2019, there were 5.2 million. In the year By 2023, it has reached a historic high of over 6.5 million cases, with 7,300 dengue-related deaths.
“It’s increasing rapidly, and it’s showing up in areas where dengue didn’t exist before,” said Paz Bailey in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The United States has seen nearly 2,700 cases this year, according to CDC data. Most of these infections were in Puerto Rico, during what is traditionally considered the island’s dry season.
About 900 Americans get dengue while traveling abroad, returning to states such as Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, where Egyptian mosquitoes breed and therefore have a high chance of local transmission. Northern states have also seen more than 140 cases in New York and 35 in Illinois. Neither state is ideal for A. Egypt.
Paz Bailey says increased travel since the Covid-19 pandemic has helped spike infections. Dengue rates are high in Puerto Rico, she said, in part because the 2015-2016 Zika outbreak has reduced immunity. Meanwhile, the type of dengue virus is shifting from dengue type 1 to dengue type 2 and 3, she said.
A future threat in the US
Most of the southern US. Egypt has areas where mosquitoes can thrive. Climate change is expanding such hot and humid areas, officials said.
“We need to recognize the unique vulnerability of this part of the country,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Vaccine Development Center at Texas Children’s Hospital and dean of Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine, told USA Today.
Along with climate change, he pointed to urbanization in areas like Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, and the poverty that is helping dengue re-enter the U.S.
According to Hotez, a discarded tire for A. Egypt mosquitoes can be “Ritz-Carlton”, which is in the whole region. In addition, Texas International Airports allow for travel to and from areas with a wide distribution in the area.
In Moji Houston, the recent Hurricane Beryl combined with days of extreme heat created ideal conditions for dengue and other vector-borne diseases to flourish, state officials said. There have been 10 cases of dengue in Texas this year, state health officials said. So far, it is believed that all of these are related to travel and not transmitted within the country.
The United States currently does not have a widely available vaccine against dengue. The best way to prevent disease is to prevent mosquito bites, which can occur day and night.
Hotez said that before starting his hike in the morning, he covers himself in sweatpants and a t-shirt and sprays insecticide to reduce exposure to mosquitoes.