Dengue in Delhi - Dengue facts and areas of fever

Dengue fever facts

• DenguStor is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes.
• Symptoms include as severe joint andmuscle pain, swollen lymph nodes,headache, fever, exhaustion, and rash. The presence of fever, rash, andheadache (the "dengue triad") is characteristic of dengue fever.
• Dengue is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics.
• Because dengue fever is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine orantibiotic to treat it. For typical dengue fever, the treatment is directed toward relief of the symptoms (symptomatic treatment).
• The acute phase of the illness with fever and myalgias lasts about one to two weeks.
• Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a specific syndrome that tends to affect children under 10 years of age. It causes abdominal pain, hemorrhage(bleeding), and circulatory collapse (shock).
• The prevention of dengue fever requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue.
• There is currently no vaccine for dengue fever.

What is dengue fever?

Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. It is an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows abenign course with symptoms such asheadache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence of fever, rash, and headache (the "dengue triad") is particularly characteristic of dengue. Other signs of dengue fever include bleeding gums, severe pain behind the eyes, and red palms and soles.

Dengue (pronounced DENG-gay) can affect anyone but tends to be more severe in people with compromised immune systems. Because it is caused by one of five serotypes of virus, it is possible to get dengue fever multiple times. However, an attack of dengue produces immunity for a lifetime to that particular viral serotype to which the patient was exposed.

Dengue goes by other names, including "breakbone" or "dandy fever." Victims of dengue often have contortions due to the intense joint and muscle pain, hence the name breakbone fever. Slaves in the West Indies who contracted dengue were said to have dandy fever because of their postures and gait.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a more severe form of the viral illness. Symptoms include headache, fever, rash, and evidence of hemorrhage in the body. Petechiae (small red or purple splotches or blisters under the skin), bleeding in the nose or gums, black stools, or easy bruising are all possible signs of hemorrhage. This form of dengue fever can be life-threatening and can progress to the most severe form of the illness, dengue shock syndrome.

What geographic areas are at high risk for contracting dengue fever?

Dengue is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics. Outbreaks have occurred recently in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Central America. Cases have also been imported via tourists returning from areas with widespread dengue, including Tahiti, Singapore, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, the West Indies, India, and the Middle East (similar in distribution to the areas of the world that harbor malaria and yellow fever). Dengue is now the leading cause of acute febrile illness in U.S. travelers returning from the Caribbean, South America, and Asia.

Thailand reported the worst dengue outbreak in 20 years, with 126 deaths and 135,344 people infected with the virus, as of October 2013.

In 2011, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela reported a large number of dengue cases. Paraguay reported a dengue fever outbreak in 2011, the worst since 2007. Hospitals were overcrowded, and patients had elective surgeries canceled due to the outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that from 1946 to 1980, no cases of dengue acquired in the continental United States were reported. Since 1980, a few locally acquired U.S. cases have been confirmed along the Texas-Mexico border, temporally associated with large outbreaks in neighboring Mexican cities.

A 2009 outbreak of dengue fever in Key West, Fla., involved three patients who did not travel outside of the U.S. contracted the virus. Subsequent testing of the population of Key West has shown that up to 5% of the people living in the area have antibodies to dengue. In total, 28 people were diagnosed with dengue fever in this outbreak.

Dengue fever is common in at least 100 countries in Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and the Caribbean. Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia have all reported an increase in cases.

According to the CDC, there are an estimated 100 million cases of dengue fever with several hundred thousand cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever requiring hospitalization each year. Nearly 40% of the world's population lives in an area endemic with dengue. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 22,000 deaths occur yearly, mostly among children.