7 ms·

Dengue, aka "Breakbone Fever", Is Back

43 points by drucken 14y ago

rdl 14y ago
Ugh. A dive instructor friend of mine caught this in Thailand and was weak/sick for months. It's scary. If this becomes endemic in the US, going outside will be taking your health in your hands, and we'll probably end up draining a bunch of marshland, re-introducing DDT, etc. since on balance losing birds is better than losing people.
- david_b 14y ago
  Much as I want to, DDT isn't the wonder-pesticide it is sometimes seen as (it affects not only birds - the german article has more info on wildlife, the english more on human health effects): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT Also, I want to see how you drain Florida :-)
  - rdl 14y ago
    It doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as malaria or dengue. It does seem to disproportionately affect children, but doing something like spraying border areas with low population density would probably still be a win. I think in the US we could afford to just use malathion. Draining Florida would best be accomplished by just declaring it an exclusion zone from human habitation :) (Florida basically terrifies me more than any other state in the US, even California)
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      Yeah, I never understood why people want to live in Florida. It gets unbearably hot, you get hurricanes every year, and you're susceptible to tropical diseases. Seems to me that there are a lot better places to live in the US, where you don't have a tropical climate.
      - lutusp 14y ago
        Strictly speaking, Florida is unfit for human occupation. Even when hurricanes aren't blowing, it's the thunderstorm capital of the country. Runner-up in the uninhabitable sweepstakes is New Orleans, which is mostly below sea level and only "dry land" because of unreliable dikes that periodically fail. Over time, because of land subsidence in New Orleans itself, and because of a gradual increase in worldwide sea level, New Orleans becomes more and more dangerous. When you perform an economic analysis, you discover it would be cheaper to pay everyone in New Orleans to move away, than to let them live there and pay for the disasters that inevitably blow in from the sea. Florida is only slightly safer on average, and that only because the northern reaches are sufficiently above sea level.
        rdl 14y ago
        Oh, my problems with Florida are the crime rates and percentage of fraudulent businesses based there, plus huge number of retirees and associated transfer payments. New Orleans (and Florida) both are necessary port logistics areas, but shouldn't be heavily populated. New Orleans is gateway to the Mississippi which is basically the industrial/agricultural 60% center of the country.
nanidin 14y ago
One can always hope that this leads to innovation in mosquito repellents and mosquito targeted insecticides. Either would also have the added benefit of helping prevent the spread of malaria in other parts of the world. I've been in SE Asia for around 6 months now and Dengue is one of the few things that truly frightens me.
- melling 14y ago
  Whatever happened to the mosquito laser? http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07334520256/forget-death-star-anti-mosquito-lasers-heres-how-nathan-myhrvold-can-help-tackle-malaria-improve-his-image.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07...
  - ovi256 14y ago
    That was a show trick, very impressive on paper (or Youtube, as it were). At most it could be commercialized as an expensive gadget for first-worlders, if even that. Maybe in twenty years, when Moore's law will make it dirt cheap.
- pretoriusB 14y ago
  >One can always hope that this leads to innovation in mosquito repellents and mosquito targeted insecticides. Right, because we need more repellent resistant mosquitos in the next generation...
  - StavrosK 14y ago
    Yeah, let's just do nothing and not even thin out this generation.
- yen223 14y ago
  Malaysian here. Dengue is an unfortunate fact of life for us - the tropical, wet climate here makes for a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. It's not unusual for a person to be sick for a month or so due to dengue. The fortunate thing about dengue is that it is rarely fatal. A combination of IV fluids and a lengthy hospital stay is usually enough. The unfortunate thing is that one of the most effective methods of reducing dengue occurrences is banned in the US - spraying DDT.
buster 14y ago
Also worth to mention is that on Madeira (Portugal) the biggest outbreak in Europe happened since 1920. Experts say that it will spread to the mainland soon.. http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.welt.de%2Fgesundheit%2Farticle111380176%2FGroesster-Ausbruch-von-Dengue-Fieber-seit-100-Jahren.html&act=url http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=...
- munchor 14y ago
  I'm Portuguese and this has been on the news for a few months now, it's quite scary to think of the consequences this can have when it reaches the mainland, especially in the USA, where over 200 million people live.
  - ra 14y ago
    Dengue has always been around in the tropics and subtropics. "There are around 50 million cases of dengue fever around the world each year according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Of those, about 500,000 people contract severe dengue, which is a potentially life-threatening." [1] It's a nasty disease, but it's no Ebola. [1] http://www.health.qld.gov.au/dengue/info/worldwide.asp http://www.health.qld.gov.au/dengue/info/worldwide.asp
- nacker 14y ago
  And it's much worse in Brasil. http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/noticia/2012-11-27/dengue-brasil-tem-77-municipios-em-situacao-de-risco-e-375-em-alerta http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/noticia/2012-11-27/dengue-br... http://www.healthmap.org/dengue/index.php http://www.healthmap.org/dengue/index.php
xradionut 14y ago
We've already gone through West Nile in the DFW area this year. A very mild winter followed by a wet spring helped increase the number of serious cases. There is some thought that climate changes plus increased migration to the area is creating a rich environment for health challenges like these.
sek 14y ago
A friend of mine caught this, it's common in Indonesia where he was. It's not that dangerous if you are educated about it. Never take Aspirin for example, this can be life threatening, but people tend to use it here when they feel bad. It's so difficult to educate the general population about things like that.
- Vivtek 14y ago
  There are four strains. If only one is common in Indonesia, then you're right - once through is more or less like the flu. In Puerto Rico there are three strains endemic. The more different strains you get, the worse the disease (i.e the worse your systemic reaction). One of my son's classmates died last year of it, in Ponce, Puerto Rico (about a year after we left PR) - he was home from the hospital, posted to Facebook "I'm not 100% yet but feeling much better", and died that night. He was 11. Dengue sucks.
dannyr 14y ago
Related News: Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes set to be released into the Florida Keys in experiment to fight dengue fever http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-officials-consider-releasing-genetically-modified-non-biting-mosquitoes-battle-dengue-fever.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-offi...
- justanother 14y ago
  The main resistance to this idea here in the Keys, is that nobody really wants to be bitten by a genetically-modified mosquito (even though the odds of it happening are miniscule, the released skeeters will be males). We have a very well-funded, state-chartered Mosquito Control District, but it is unable to enter property and conduct standing-water investigations by people who won't let that gosh darn gummit on their property without a warrant. I'd prefer both genetically-modified mosquitos, and special warrants from the governor to check standing water, to getting Dengue. Some of my friends have, and they were very sorry for weeks.
  - pixie_ 14y ago
    I lived in key west and always had random people in my backyard inspecting for standing water. Even woke up to a helicopter one morning overhead spraying for mosquitoes. I got dengue in 2010 and it suuuucked, the eye pain is incredible, you can't move your eyes without extreme pain. And at the time I had no idea what it was, and it turns out the awareness of it is still low because many people work in the service industry and don't have health insurance so most people avoid the doctor (like myself) didn't know I dengue until afterwards.. like the article says 5% of people in key west have had it at some point which sucks because if you get it again (and a different strain of it) anytime after in your life then you have a 20% chance of dying.. which I hate thinking about when I travel to costa rica. I got a bug zapper and have been massacring mosquitoes nightly. I dont know why there isn't one on every lamppost. /rant
soapdog 14y ago
back??? I live in Rio, it never left... We have thousands of sick people every year. I caught it two or three times already. Horrible thing. Its so common that we know in which months it will strike worse. For those of non tropical countries that are really scared, there are some tricks while you have it. First and foremost: drink insane amounts of water. Dengue will take all the water out of you thru its constants diarrheas. You need water more than you need food, drink more water. You will have very high fever, control it with meds but be aware that it won't go away. You will have pain in the extremities of your body (fingers, hands...), you can try to mask it with meds but you learn to live with it for a while, makes it hard to sleep. Here in Brazil we have something we call "Soro Caseiro" which everyone learns to prepare at home, its one of your main ally against dehydration. You mix 1 liter of water with 3.5g of salt and 20g of sugar. You drink this to prevent dehydration or in the initial phase of your dengue. If things get really bad, you will need a hospital. On my personal experience with this nasty disease, I've found that drinking Pedialyte helped me a lot. You may think it is dumb to drink baby fluid replacement med but it works and doesn't taste as bad as "Soro Caseiro", here in Brazil we have Pedialyte flavored like orange juice, so makes it easier. Remember dengue is a bitch and can be very serious. When you get it, you need to see a doctor. All the tips I've placed above are useless if you get the more worrisome types (which are more rare), so go see a doctor. And remember: don't despair
- nacker 14y ago
  Here is a terrifying but fascinating story of an artist who almost died from dengue. http://danrhema.com/when-i-was-a-ghost/ http://danrhema.com/when-i-was-a-ghost/ http://www.deborahdachinger.com/dan-rhema-dramatic-near-death-experience-births-a-celebrated-visionary-artist/ http://www.deborahdachinger.com/dan-rhema-dramatic-near-deat...
- weslly 14y ago
  >You will have very high fever, control it with meds but be aware that it won't go away I thought this was highly inadvisable. At least is what you see at the end of almost all painkiller advertisements in Brazil.
  - 14y ago

43 points by drucken 14y ago

rdl 14y ago

Ugh. A dive instructor friend of mine caught this in Thailand and was weak/sick for months. It's scary. If this becomes endemic in the US, going outside will be taking your health in your hands, and we'll probably end up draining a bunch of marshland, re-introducing DDT, etc. since on balance losing birds is better than losing people.

david_b 14y ago
Much as I want to, DDT isn't the wonder-pesticide it is sometimes seen as (it affects not only birds - the german article has more info on wildlife, the english more on human health effects): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT Also, I want to see how you drain Florida :-)
- rdl 14y ago
  It doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as malaria or dengue. It does seem to disproportionately affect children, but doing something like spraying border areas with low population density would probably still be a win. I think in the US we could afford to just use malathion. Draining Florida would best be accomplished by just declaring it an exclusion zone from human habitation :) (Florida basically terrifies me more than any other state in the US, even California)
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Yeah, I never understood why people want to live in Florida. It gets unbearably hot, you get hurricanes every year, and you're susceptible to tropical diseases. Seems to me that there are a lot better places to live in the US, where you don't have a tropical climate.
    - lutusp 14y ago
      Strictly speaking, Florida is unfit for human occupation. Even when hurricanes aren't blowing, it's the thunderstorm capital of the country. Runner-up in the uninhabitable sweepstakes is New Orleans, which is mostly below sea level and only "dry land" because of unreliable dikes that periodically fail. Over time, because of land subsidence in New Orleans itself, and because of a gradual increase in worldwide sea level, New Orleans becomes more and more dangerous. When you perform an economic analysis, you discover it would be cheaper to pay everyone in New Orleans to move away, than to let them live there and pay for the disasters that inevitably blow in from the sea. Florida is only slightly safer on average, and that only because the northern reaches are sufficiently above sea level.
      - rdl 14y ago
        Oh, my problems with Florida are the crime rates and percentage of fraudulent businesses based there, plus huge number of retirees and associated transfer payments. New Orleans (and Florida) both are necessary port logistics areas, but shouldn't be heavily populated. New Orleans is gateway to the Mississippi which is basically the industrial/agricultural 60% center of the country.

nanidin 14y ago

One can always hope that this leads to innovation in mosquito repellents and mosquito targeted insecticides. Either would also have the added benefit of helping prevent the spread of malaria in other parts of the world. I've been in SE Asia for around 6 months now and Dengue is one of the few things that truly frightens me.

melling 14y ago
Whatever happened to the mosquito laser? http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07334520256/forget-death-star-anti-mosquito-lasers-heres-how-nathan-myhrvold-can-help-tackle-malaria-improve-his-image.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07...
- ovi256 14y ago
  That was a show trick, very impressive on paper (or Youtube, as it were). At most it could be commercialized as an expensive gadget for first-worlders, if even that. Maybe in twenty years, when Moore's law will make it dirt cheap.
pretoriusB 14y ago
>One can always hope that this leads to innovation in mosquito repellents and mosquito targeted insecticides. Right, because we need more repellent resistant mosquitos in the next generation...
- StavrosK 14y ago
  Yeah, let's just do nothing and not even thin out this generation.
yen223 14y ago
Malaysian here. Dengue is an unfortunate fact of life for us - the tropical, wet climate here makes for a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. It's not unusual for a person to be sick for a month or so due to dengue. The fortunate thing about dengue is that it is rarely fatal. A combination of IV fluids and a lengthy hospital stay is usually enough. The unfortunate thing is that one of the most effective methods of reducing dengue occurrences is banned in the US - spraying DDT.

buster 14y ago

Also worth to mention is that on Madeira (Portugal) the biggest outbreak in Europe happened since 1920. Experts say that it will spread to the mainland soon.. http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.welt.de%2Fgesundheit%2Farticle111380176%2FGroesster-Ausbruch-von-Dengue-Fieber-seit-100-Jahren.html&act=url http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=...

munchor 14y ago
I'm Portuguese and this has been on the news for a few months now, it's quite scary to think of the consequences this can have when it reaches the mainland, especially in the USA, where over 200 million people live.
- ra 14y ago
  Dengue has always been around in the tropics and subtropics. "There are around 50 million cases of dengue fever around the world each year according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Of those, about 500,000 people contract severe dengue, which is a potentially life-threatening." [1] It's a nasty disease, but it's no Ebola. [1] http://www.health.qld.gov.au/dengue/info/worldwide.asp http://www.health.qld.gov.au/dengue/info/worldwide.asp
nacker 14y ago
And it's much worse in Brasil. http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/noticia/2012-11-27/dengue-brasil-tem-77-municipios-em-situacao-de-risco-e-375-em-alerta http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/noticia/2012-11-27/dengue-br... http://www.healthmap.org/dengue/index.php http://www.healthmap.org/dengue/index.php

xradionut 14y ago

We've already gone through West Nile in the DFW area this year. A very mild winter followed by a wet spring helped increase the number of serious cases. There is some thought that climate changes plus increased migration to the area is creating a rich environment for health challenges like these.

sek 14y ago

A friend of mine caught this, it's common in Indonesia where he was. It's not that dangerous if you are educated about it. Never take Aspirin for example, this can be life threatening, but people tend to use it here when they feel bad. It's so difficult to educate the general population about things like that.

Vivtek 14y ago
There are four strains. If only one is common in Indonesia, then you're right - once through is more or less like the flu. In Puerto Rico there are three strains endemic. The more different strains you get, the worse the disease (i.e the worse your systemic reaction). One of my son's classmates died last year of it, in Ponce, Puerto Rico (about a year after we left PR) - he was home from the hospital, posted to Facebook "I'm not 100% yet but feeling much better", and died that night. He was 11. Dengue sucks.

dannyr 14y ago

Related News: Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes set to be released into the Florida Keys in experiment to fight dengue fever http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-officials-consider-releasing-genetically-modified-non-biting-mosquitoes-battle-dengue-fever.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-offi...

justanother 14y ago
The main resistance to this idea here in the Keys, is that nobody really wants to be bitten by a genetically-modified mosquito (even though the odds of it happening are miniscule, the released skeeters will be males). We have a very well-funded, state-chartered Mosquito Control District, but it is unable to enter property and conduct standing-water investigations by people who won't let that gosh darn gummit on their property without a warrant. I'd prefer both genetically-modified mosquitos, and special warrants from the governor to check standing water, to getting Dengue. Some of my friends have, and they were very sorry for weeks.
- pixie_ 14y ago
  I lived in key west and always had random people in my backyard inspecting for standing water. Even woke up to a helicopter one morning overhead spraying for mosquitoes. I got dengue in 2010 and it suuuucked, the eye pain is incredible, you can't move your eyes without extreme pain. And at the time I had no idea what it was, and it turns out the awareness of it is still low because many people work in the service industry and don't have health insurance so most people avoid the doctor (like myself) didn't know I dengue until afterwards.. like the article says 5% of people in key west have had it at some point which sucks because if you get it again (and a different strain of it) anytime after in your life then you have a 20% chance of dying.. which I hate thinking about when I travel to costa rica. I got a bug zapper and have been massacring mosquitoes nightly. I dont know why there isn't one on every lamppost. /rant

soapdog 14y ago

back??? I live in Rio, it never left... We have thousands of sick people every year. I caught it two or three times already. Horrible thing. Its so common that we know in which months it will strike worse. For those of non tropical countries that are really scared, there are some tricks while you have it. First and foremost: drink insane amounts of water. Dengue will take all the water out of you thru its constants diarrheas. You need water more than you need food, drink more water. You will have very high fever, control it with meds but be aware that it won't go away. You will have pain in the extremities of your body (fingers, hands...), you can try to mask it with meds but you learn to live with it for a while, makes it hard to sleep. Here in Brazil we have something we call "Soro Caseiro" which everyone learns to prepare at home, its one of your main ally against dehydration. You mix 1 liter of water with 3.5g of salt and 20g of sugar. You drink this to prevent dehydration or in the initial phase of your dengue. If things get really bad, you will need a hospital. On my personal experience with this nasty disease, I've found that drinking Pedialyte helped me a lot. You may think it is dumb to drink baby fluid replacement med but it works and doesn't taste as bad as "Soro Caseiro", here in Brazil we have Pedialyte flavored like orange juice, so makes it easier. Remember dengue is a bitch and can be very serious. When you get it, you need to see a doctor. All the tips I've placed above are useless if you get the more worrisome types (which are more rare), so go see a doctor. And remember: don't despair

nacker 14y ago
Here is a terrifying but fascinating story of an artist who almost died from dengue. http://danrhema.com/when-i-was-a-ghost/ http://danrhema.com/when-i-was-a-ghost/ http://www.deborahdachinger.com/dan-rhema-dramatic-near-death-experience-births-a-celebrated-visionary-artist/ http://www.deborahdachinger.com/dan-rhema-dramatic-near-deat...
weslly 14y ago
>You will have very high fever, control it with meds but be aware that it won't go away I thought this was highly inadvisable. At least is what you see at the end of almost all painkiller advertisements in Brazil.
- 14y ago