Thursday, July 22, 2010
Dengue
9:40 PM | 
Posted by
MURTZA
Background
Dengue fever, also known affectionately as ‘bonecrusher disease’, is an up-and-coming disease caused by one of four closely-related viruses. WHO estimates that a whopping 2.5 billion people (two fifths of the World’s population) are at risk from dengue. It puts the total number of infections at around 50 million per year, and is now epidemic in more than 100 countries.How it spreadsDengue viruses are transferred to humans through the bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. The dengue virus circulates in the blood of a human for two to seven days, during the same time they have the fever. If an Aedes mosquito feeds on the infected human during this time it may acquire the virus. Thus, infected humans are the main carriers and multipliers of the virus.What it does
Dengue fever is a severe flu-like illness characterised by severe headache, fever, muscle and joint pains, and a rash. The fever itself is rarely fatal. However, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) can result as a complication of the illness, in which case the outlook is much grimmer. This illness begins with a sudden rise in body temperature (up to 41 degrees), together with facial flush and other flu-like symptoms. In severe cases, after a few days of fever the temperature will plummet and signs of circulatory failure will arise. Finally, the patient may go into a state of shock and die within 12-24 hours.Treatment
There is no vaccine against dengue, although several potential vaccines are in the early stages of development. Prevention of further epidemics is currently based around eradicated the spread of the mosquitoes, through vector controls and use of insecticides. In terms of treating the symptoms of dengue fever, increased fluid intake is recommended in order to prevent dehydration, and intravenous fluids may be given to minimize this risk.
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