In September, the second case of dengue fever this year was reported in South Florida. While, Jon Dodds, associate professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, said an epidemic in Florida is unlikely because of the living conditions in the U.S. However, Floridians should still be aware of the effects of the disease.
Dengue fever is a viral disease spread from person to person by two species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Dodds said the virus is transferred from a mosquito’s saliva glands to a person’s blood stream through its mouth. The mosquito squirts saliva into the blood stream because the saliva has an enzyme that stops the blood from coagulating.
“Many people who contract the virus into their blood get an infection and have minor symptoms like the flu. They just feel under the weather. However, certain percentages of people get bad pains, like pains in their bones, joints, and muscles,” said Dodds.
Dodds said dengue fever has four types and a person can get infected four different times depending on what type the mosquito is carrying. He said there’s a one in ten mortality rate when people contract two different types of dengue fever and don’t receive medical treatment. He advised that people who contract more than one type of the virus should go to the hospital for treatment.
“Sometimes, when you get two different types of the virus, your body develops a super strong immune reaction to the virus and it can be so strong that it overwhelms the body and puts the person into shock and kills them,” he said.
Unfortunately, this treatment is not an option for people living in poor countries. Aedes mosquitoes live in tropical areas like the Caribbean, Central America, most of South America, South Asia and Africa. Since people living in poor countries don’t have access to air conditioning or they don’t have screens on their windows or doors, they become more susceptible to the disease.
“Mosquitoes just fly in and out all day long and bite whoever they want. People who live close together with no air conditioning or screens have a greater chance of getting infected with a mosquito that carries the virus,” said Dodds.
Dodds said one of the reasons dengue fever cases have surfaced in the United States is because people have imported the disease. If a mosquito infects an individual in another country, that person can travel back to the U.S. and transfer the disease to another mosquito that can infect someone else.
Imported dengue fever is the most common way people contract the disease in the U.S. However, people can still protect themselves from the disease said Dodds.
First, wear mosquito repellant that contains the chemical deet. This chemical stops mosquitoes from biting. The second prevention method is to stay away from places where mosquitoes lurk and the third method is to surround yourself with people who don’t spend a lot of time in areas where mosquitoes are present.
“If many people protect themselves, this keeps the virus from spreading through the population. If everyone is safer, then each individual tends to be safer,” said Dodds.
Dodds also believes the prevention of dengue fever needs to be a community effort. This means that people should keep the places where they live clean by picking up trash, buckets, and soda bottles, for example.
“Mosquitoes can live in containers of water, like soda bottles or buckets, or in rain gutters. Where a little bit of rain water collects, mosquitoes lay their eggs,” he said.
These eggs hatch into wrigglers that don’t have wings, then they turn into larvae pupils that become adults, said Dodds. Once they learn how to fly, they don’t fly far, about 100 yards in their lifetime. Dodds said, this means that if they’re born near human beings, they’ll hang around and bite them.
“After it rains, the area where water collects becomes a breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes. The more the community keeps the trash picked up, the fewer Aedes mosquitoes will be living in that area,” said Dodds.
