2023-07-22 08:00:00
Written by Amal Allam Saturday, July 22, 2023 11:00 am
The World Health Organization has warned of a rise in dengue cases worldwide due to global warming, which is characterized by higher average temperatures, precipitation and longer periods of drought.
About half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting dengue, which affects nearly 129 countries, said Dr. Raman Velayudhan, head of the WHO’s Global Program for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The most common infection…
Dengue fever, also called bone-breaking fever, is the most common viral infection transmitted from mosquitoes to humans. Most people with dengue have no symptoms and recover within one to two weeks, but some people develop severe dengue and require hospital care.
Dr. Raman Velayudhan said, in some cases, especially when you get infected for the second time, this can lead to severe dengue fever, which can also be fatal. Dengue is spread by a type of mosquito called Aedes. The disease is more common in tropical and subtropical climates.
Dr. Velayudhan explained that the incidence of fever has grown exponentially all over the world in recent decades.
Cases are rising fast.
“In 2000, we had regarding half a million cases, and now we have more than 4.2 million cases, which shows an eight-fold increase,” said Dr. Velayudhan.
This number might increase, he added, “as we get more and more accurate numbers. Asia accounts for regarding 70% of the global disease burden, and the future outlook is bleak. In Europe, the Aedes mosquito is very prevalent, and infections of dengue and chikungunya have been reported for more than a decade.”
Dr Velayudhan continued, “European countries are also on alert because Europe keeps recording Aedes transmission of either Dengue or Chikungunya since 2010. We have seen more outbreaks since then and it is estimated that the mosquito is present in regarding 22 European countries.”
Numerous factors in addition to climate change have led to the spread of dengue, such as increased movement of people and goods, urbanization and pressure on water and sanitation systems, Aedes mosquitoes that transmit Zika in addition to causing dengue and chikungunya
The prevalence of dengue fever in both floods and droughts.
The expert at the World Health Organization said, “The mosquito is able to survive even in the event of scarcity of water, so it can increase dengue fever During floods as well as during droughts, the virus and vector multiply faster at a higher temperature.
He pointed out that there is no specific treatment for dengue fever and there is no direct drug intervention available. Usually, the disease is treated with drugs to treat fever and pain. It takes 2 to 3 days to test for dengue fever before obtaining a reliable result.
He explained that there are several new tools under development that provide greater hope for preventing and controlling dengue fever, such as better diagnosis, and a few antiviral drugs are undergoing clinical trials.
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