Dengue fever is a arboviral virus in which a mosquito carries the flavivirus gene. Dengue fever is a problem in tropical areas with initial symptoms of infection being asymptotic followed by an acute fever. Very few people who contracted and previously have had Dengue fever have problems with their blood vessels leaking. In some cases these patients are bleeding within their tissues which develops into shock and ultimately death. In times of weather changes, herd immunity, and mosquito control is an attribute towards epidemics in Africa. Generally the disease is prevalent in urban community and eventually spreads to heavier populated areas of host to transport the disease. Europe and Antarctica are the only places on earth that have not had this disease present. Dengue fever does not occur in European nations because of the lack of tropical climate along with appropriate vectors for passing on the virus, however, travelers returning from tropical regions have problems. Urban sprawl, increasing population to endemic areas, climate change, poor water
systems and health care systems are all factors that does not have Dengue fever. Mosquito bites are a problem in Africa they love standing water in which they breed. If inadequate blood is not received by the mosquito's' initial bite they move on to an acceptable host causing the virus to spread. Dengue is an infection primary to humans, therefore the mosquito's initially picks up the virus and and carries it to a healthy human host infecting the individual. The mosquito than carries the virus until its death 15 to 65 days later. Incubation time for a human after an initial bite is 3 to 14 days. Hemorrhaging and shock come on the 3rd to 7th day of infection. Depending on climate and medical care is the determining factor on how susceptible one is of recovering. Factors that affect healing rates include; health of status of the individual before the infection, age, nutritional sate, sequence of infection, ethnicity, and health care that is available.
Dengue fever causes sever headaches, nausea, vomiting, rashes, bleeding of gums, nose bleeds, abdominal pain, hypothermia, fatigue, malaise, sore throat, cough and an enlarged liver. Initial stages after 10 days of infection is an increase in temperature accompanied by flushed skin and flu like symptoms. This lasts for seven days after the fever subsides the body temperature then drops, circulatory failure follows with shock; a quick recovery ends the fever. No vaccination is available at this time.
This was an interesting article. When I think of diseases that are common to Africa I think of HIV/AIDS. So much attention is focused on HIV/AIDS and I thought that it would be interesting to see what other diseases that Africa has more prevalent to their content than to the United States. Tropical diseases are much harder to deal with when most diseases love to be in warm dark areas. I have never heard of Dengue Fever before and I was surprised to learn that this fever is passed for person to person through a mosquito. It was interesting to learn that this fever attacks the blood vessels and causes complications in serious cases which lead to death through hemorrhaging and bleeding to death.
References
Dengue Fever: EMedicine Infectious Diseases. "EMedicine Medical Reference." Web 15 Apr. 2010. .
Public Health Agency of Canada "Dengue Fever" Dengue Fever. Public Health Agency of Canada, 09 Dec. 2009. Web. 15 Apri. 2010
Web Site Article taken from
Picture taken from the Public Health Agency of Canada it shows the regions in the world that are at risk of Dengue fever.
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