Dengue fever is a serious threat to life

Dengue Fever:  

With incidences of dengue fever rising in developing countries, development of a cure should really be ramped up. Unfortunately, there is still no cure for dengue fever. So the best thing that everyone should do is to nip things in the bud and prevent becoming sick in the first place. One of the best ways to prevent yourself from contracting dengue fever is to wear mosquito repellent. This is probably the single best way to stop from being infected. There are many mosquito repellent formulas being sold in the market today. There are even some all-natural formulas that you can also look into if you want a safer formulation.

History:

The first recorded outbreak happened inAustralialast 1897. A reoccurrence was noted in 1928 during an epidemic inGreeceand again, for the third time, inTaiwanlast 1931. The initial outbreak inAustraliaverified the epidemic there. It was not long before it reached other Asian countries includingIndia,Indonesia,Maldives,Myanmar,Sri Lanka, andThailand, as well as inSingapore,Cambodia,China,Laos,Malaysia,New Caledonia,Palau,Philippines, Tahiti andVietnamin the Western Pacific Region. Today, Dengue has most definitely come a long way from being a rare symptom on a foreign land to becoming a common house hold killer among locals evident in almost all Asian nations.

Dengue on Globe: Dengue is associated with poorer tropical third world countries. Leaders inThailandwarned his countrymen of the dengue epidemic that took the lives of six Thais and infected 6000 more. the Cambodian government felt it only right to focus on prevention instead of a cure.Cambodiahas one of the most numbers of people infected by the Dengue fever. The Dengue prevention organization also believes that educational programs are not prioritized seeing that resources to implement them are not evaluated on a regular basis. , Dengue casualties were reduced significantly with the advent of vaccines and anti-biotic along with deadly viruses such as smallpox, poliomyelitis, and acute rheumatic fever. The World Health Organization stated that since 1998, infectious and parasitic diseases killed one-third of all deaths in the world in 1997.

Symptoms of Dengue:

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a more severe form of the viral illness. Symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue fever. Diagnosis | Laboratory Tests: Dengue fever may be diagnosed by microbiological laboratory testing. This can be done by virus isolation in cell cultures, nucleic acid detection by PCR, viral antigen detection or specific antibodies (serology). Virus isolation and nucleic acid detection are more accurate than antigen detection, but these tests are not widely available due to their greater cost. All tests may be negative in the early stages of the disease. These laboratory tests are only of diagnostic value during the acute phase of the illness with the exception of serology. Tests for dengue virus-specific antibodies, types IgG and IgM, can be useful in confirming a diagnosis in the later stages of the infection. Both IgG and IgM are produced after 5–7 days. The highest levels (titres) of IgM are detected following a primary infection, but IgM is also produced in secondary and tertiary infections. The IgM becomes undetectable 30–90 days after a primary infection, but earlier following re-infections. IgG, by contrast, remains detectable for over 60 years and, in the absence of symptoms, is a useful indicator of past infection. After a primary infection the IgG reaches peak levels in the blood after 14–21 days. In subsequent re-infections, levels peak earlier and the titres are usually higher. Both IgG and IgM provide protective immunity to the infecting serotype of the virus. In the laboratory test the IgG and the IgM antibodies can cross-react with other flaviviruses, such as yellow fever virus, which can make the interpretation of the serology difficult. The detection of IgG alone is not considered diagnostic unless blood samples are collected 14 days apart and a greater than fourfold increase in levels of specific IgG is detected. In a person with symptoms, the detection of IgM is considered diagnostic.

Prevention from Dengue Fever:

Neither vaccine nor drugs for preventing infection are available. The bite of one infected mosquito can result in infection. The risk of being bitten is highest during the early morning, several hours after daybreak, and in the late afternoon before sunset. However, mosquitoes may feed at any time during the day. Aedes mosquitoes typically live indoors and are often found in dark, cool places such as in closets, under beds, behind curtains, and in bathrooms. Travelers should be advised to use insecticides to get rid of mosquitoes in these areas and to select accommodations with well-screened windows or air conditioning when possible. Additionally, travelers should take measures to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Long-term travelers and expatriates can take extra precautions to reduce mosquito-breeding sites around their accommodations by emptying and cleaning or covering any standing water (such as in water storage tanks and flowerpot trays).