Illnesses began to come and go like patterns. Dengue fever will become a major threat in southern Europe, the southern United States and new areas of Africa this decade as warmer temperatures create the right conditions for mosquitoes that carry the virus to spread, said the WHO’s chief researcher, Jeremy Farrar. The disease has long plagued much of Asia and Latin America, causing about 20,000 deaths each year. Disease rates have already increased eightfold globally since 2000, largely due to climate change, as well as increased human movement and urbanization. Many cases remain unreported, but in 2022 4.2 million cases were reported worldwide. Public health officials have warned that near-record levels of transmission are expected this year. Bangladesh is currently facing the worst epidemic in its history, with more than 1,000 deaths. “We need to talk much more proactively about Dengue,” Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist who joined the World Health Organization in May of this year, told Reuters. “We really need to prepare countries for how they will deal with the additional pressure that will come in the future in many, many large cities,” warned the WHO chief researcher. Farrar previously worked for 18 years in Vietnam, working in the field of tropical diseases and including dengue fever. He later led the global health charity Wellcome Trust and advised the UK government on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, before joining the WHO in May this year. Farrar says it is possible that this infection will “take off” and become endemic in parts of the United States, Europe and Africa – regions where there has already been limited local transmission – as global warming makes new areas more suitable. for mosquitoes that spread the disease. This will put acute pressure on hospital systems in many countries, he warned. “Clinical care is really intensive, it requires a high ratio of nurses to patients,” says the researcher. “I’m very concerned when this becomes a big issue in sub-Saharan Africa,” Farrar said. Most people who get dengue have no symptoms, which means that the case rates are much higher than the reported numbers. Those who do get the disease can have fever, muscle spasms, and joint pain so severe that it’s known as “broken bone fever.” In severe cases – less than 1% – the disease can be fatal.
There is no specific treatment for dengue, although there is a vaccine available. WHO has recommended Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Qdenga vaccine for children aged 6 to 16 years in areas where the infection is a significant public health problem. Qdenga is also approved by the EU regulator, but Takeda withdrew its application for approval in the United States earlier this year, citing data collection issues. Takeda said it is still in discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration about the vaccine. Dengue is spread by infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which behave differently from malaria carriers. For example, they sting people inside homes and are active all day, not only overnight. Also, these mosquitoes multiply in very shallow waters.
2023-10-08 21:00:47
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