South and Central America are experiencing the most severe outbreak of dengue fever since it began systematic coverage in 1980. To date, more than 2.7 million cases have been recorded this year - 13 percent more than in the region's largest dengue epidemic to date 2015. The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said. Thus, by the end of October, 1206 people died of dengue.
The hardest hit were Honduras, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua and Colombia. Honduras had declared the national emergency due to the rapid increase in infections in July. In relation to the population, there were the most infections in Belize. The PAHO called on the affected countries to better monitor the spread of the dengue virus, inform the population about the dangers and take preventive measures.
Symptoms similar to malaria
Dengue viruses are transmitted by yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti). The disease has similar symptoms to malaria: high fever, headache, joint pain. In particularly severe cases, it can lead, inter alia, abdominal pain, bleeding mucous membranes or persistent vomiting.
It is estimated that around 400 million people worldwide become infected with the dengue virus each year, and nearly half of the world's population is at risk of becoming infected. only about 25 percent of them develop complaints. The risk of a serious illness increases in a secondary infection. According to the Robert Koch Institute, about 0.5 percent to two percent of people develop a severe form of dengue fever when they become infected for the second time.
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In many Asian and Latin American countries, severe dengue syndrome is a major cause of serious illness and death in children. So far, there is no reliable vaccination against the virus, according to the Tropical Institute. It can only alleviate the associated symptoms. Locals and travelers traveling in Dengue regions are advised to avoid mosquito bites.
In Germany, doctors diagnose between 600 and 800 infections every year in people who have returned from a trip. Serious illnesses are extremely rare. "Of the more than 4,000 reported dengue infections in travelers returning from 2013 to 2018, only 0.3 percent meet the criteria of severe dengue disease - none of the cases was reported as dead," writes the Robert Koch Institute.
Several programs are currently underway worldwide to reduce the number of mosquitoes. In addition to conventional insect control agents, the sterilization of male specimens by radioactive radiation and the exposure of genetically modified mosquitoes is experimented.
