Dengue fever

It is a multi system disorder characterized in affected organs by a type of inflammation called granulomas (small rounded outgrowths made up of blood vessels, cells and connective tissues).It is an infectious disease mainly seen in the tropics and the subtropics just after the rainy seasons. This disease is caused by four related dengue viruses (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4) and are transmitted by the domestic day-biting mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti.

Dengue is known for the last 200 years and was initially called the break-bone fever. It has been reported since from Africa , Southeast Asia including China and India , Middle East , Caribbean and Central and South America , Australia , and the South and Central Pacific. It was thought that Aedes mosquitoes were successfully eradicated from the American countries during the 1960s and so the eradication programme was discontinued in the 1970s. This neglect was disasterous and now its distribution is far more widespread than it was then.

Symptoms

These are the common symptoms but many people do not show these typical symptoms.

• High fever, up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit
• Severe headache
• Severe joint and muscle pain
• Nausea and vomiting
• Rash

Treatment

There is no specific treatment for Dengue fever as no vaccines are available. In most cases, complete recovery is within two weeks. However, just like any viral infection, the following will help in speedy recovery:

• Getting plenty of bed rest.
• Drinking lots of fluids.
• Taking medicine to reduce fever.

What you can do

Aedes mosquito bites during the day especially in the early morning and late afternoon before dark. Avoid exposure by wearing full sleeves and if possible wear mosquito repellants. Also remove stagnating water in the bathrooms and plant pots to avoid their breeding.

Future of hope

Though dengue is known for the last two hundred years, research on it only started seriously in 2001 after the epidemic in Hawaii . Currently a lot of research is going on in the US and in many other countries for developing vaccines for this virus. Laboratories of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Maryland are progressing fast towards understanding the life of the virus in the mosquito host and are trying to develop ways of preventing the viral replication in the Aedes.

Recently, attenuated candidate vaccine viruses have been developed in Thailand . These vaccines have been proved safe and immunogenic by animal studies. Efficacy trials in human volunteers have yet to be initiated. Therefore, an effective dengue vaccine for public use will not be available for at least another five years.

Compiled by: Indrajit Sinha, Last updated: 02.12.07 © Medhospital Foundation

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