It was beetles in Vietnam, but in the Philippines, Dr. Paulyn Jean Ubial, a ranking health official has appealed to people to spare spiders, lizards, frogs and other animals that prey on mosquitoes. This announcement was prior to a warning by the World Health Organization (WHO) about the rising incidence of dengue fever in many parts of Asia and that is including the Philippines.

According to Ubial, that there is a need to preserve these creatures that prey on mosquitoes because they help us control health menaces such as dengue-carrying mosquitoes, especially now that these mosquitoes seem to have built resistance to chemical insecticides. After all, measures such as fogging in areas where dengue is endemic, have been dismal failures in controlling the mosquito population.

Source: PDI

Some 300 medical teams from all over the world has been sent across Asia to fight and prevent outbreaks of Dengue. The BBC News was told by Mumbai officials that 250 people had been rushed to various Mumbai hospitals stricken with Dengue fevers for the past several days. “They are all suffering from fever, Leptospirosis was suspected. There is no epidemic, though,” claims the source of the news. This was thwarted by the statement of a Mumbai Health officer who otherwise stated that Dengue fever was indeed a major concern in their country. Well actually isn’t it a major problem for practically everyone in the third world? 

According to the researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,
their particular study and research have shown that antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection is actually able to be suppressed by C1q, a blood-borne immune system compound.

Er, let�s put it on a more understandable context.

This epidemiological and laboratory-based ADE study is relevant in helping the control of viral disease outbreaks. Public health experts and clinicians may someday be able to design more effective aid systems such as safer and more effective vaccines.

The results of this study may also be the key to formulating a working dengue vaccine. Scientists have theorized that dengue patients become more vulnerable to another infection because of inadequate antibodies to eradicate the dengue virus when it returned. However, when researchers tried to simulate this particular phenomenon in animal models, they were unable to.

Source: Newswise

Although the fact that the dengue virus is considered a global threat for centuries now, scientists still know little about how the virus infects cells and causes diseases. New researches have begun to shed a little light to this medical mystery such as how the virus damages cells and how the immune system in turn responds to this attack. Recently, scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), have been and are still trying various methods on developing vaccines against the deadly disease. There are researches that focus on weakened versions of the dengue virus as potential vaccine candidates not only against dengue but also against other related viruses. Other projects are trying to develop vaccines using DNA, proteins, and viral vectors. Others still focus on preventing mosquitoes from transmitting the dengue virus.

Many of these projects are certainly remarkable and promising and we hope that one day we will be able to benefit from one if not all of these worthy medical pursuits.

Source: NIH

I guess it is indeed true that prevention is still the best cure. Especially in the case of dengue fever, as no cure has been found for the actual disease itself. Now, the best way to prevent dengue fever is to avoid contact with mosquitoes. If you are traveling to an area where there are reports of dengue fever cases, it is best to bring mosquito repellent containing DEET. Apply repellant in the morning and in the late afternoon, as dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day. You can also wear long sleeved-shirts and long pants if the weather permits it.

Dengue is usually associated with poorer tropical countries. The disease leads to a sudden onset of fever with severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, as well as rashes. According to the AFP, the mosquito viral called Dengue fever has instantly become a significant public viral outbreak in Thailand, where a recent epidemic resulted in 63,000 cases and 91 deaths nationwide. Health education is crucial to the minimization of the disease. To make sure that people understand the cause of infection and the ways to prevent people from catching the virus is the best step to combat Dengue. Health education for dengue control should be provided in primary schools and community health centers as suggested by the National Dengue Control Program.

 

There is no detailed or specific action for dengue fever, but close medical awareness and clinical management revives the lives of many patients. At the present time, the only technique of controlling dengue and DHF is to battle the vector mosquito all the way through chemical control and environmental management. Community-based cleaning operations remove tyres, bottles, cans and other objects that catch and keep hold of water, get free of possible breeding sites for vector mosquitoes. Larval surroundings are too treated with insecticide. Insecticidal space sprays, by means of vehicle-mounted or moveable machines, are used in many programmes for urgent situations and to  control the growth of adult mosquitoes.

People as we know it are responsible for spreading diseases and with recent outbreaks of dengue, swine and avian influenza, a very dangerous trend is being observed, they are taking shorter periods to spread. Swine flu pandemic has seen a very rapid spread of the disease throughout the world from the small town in Mexico where it all began. All these recent viral outbreaks is costing billions in losses due to lost business, absenteeism and the fear of the spreading disease that tends to get people out pf the streets fast. The pandemic status of Swine Flu quickly turned to that of damage control for no means of containment was proving effective for the virus was already out on the population. Swine flu has killed thousands but it underlies the more imminent danger from dengue, a far deadlier disease that has yet to get a vaccine out for the general public. And with recent strains of these viruses showing quick immunity to just released anti-viral drugs the job of researchers in finding cures that work is only getting harder by the day.

The mosquito scourge is dependent on certain environmental conditions to survive and our meddling with nature as in the case of once arid lands, turning them into lush farmland may be responsible for spreading the disease. Mosquitoes thrive in tropical environments and with many tropical areas already infected, taming other places that used to be too harsh for them, where rainwater is so precious we try to collect each and every drop turning them into havens for the virus carrying mosquito. (more…)

The outbreaks of many diseases that used to be contained in isolated incidents has become a thing of the past, thanks to modern travel, mostly by air which can reach all corners of the world in less than a day. The recent outbreak of swine flu, a totally different virus more akin to the bird-flu outbreak we had was a first time test of a virus that spread so fast it got out of the containment level before authorities could react. Weaknesses have been exposed and the many gaps of even the best funded government’s health services put to the test. In the end, the world was unprepared for the outbreak which has added to the many problem super-bugs we are now dealing from dengue, avian and swine flu among some of the most recent. (more…)