Close-up of a yellow-fever mosquito biting human skin, it is a culicidae vector of malaria, yellow fever, chikungunya, dengue and zika virus in Brazil, known locally as mosquito da dengue.
Joao Paulo Burini | Moment | Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory Tuesday alerting authorities, health care providers and the general public of the increased risk of dengue fever infections in the US.
The alert comes as an unexpectedly higher variety of dengue fever cases have been reported across the nation, in keeping with the CDC.
A complete of two,241 cases have been reported up to now this yr within the U.S., including 1,498 cases within the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, where a public health emergency was declared in March after cases exceeded historical figures.
The CDC reported 3,036 dengue cases last yr within the U.S. and its territories.
This yr, the incidence of dengue fever globally has been the best on record, especially in Latin American countries, where greater than 9.7 million dengue cases have been reported. That is twice as many as in all of 2023 (4.6 million cases), in keeping with the CDC.
Dengue fever infections have skyrocketed as many countries have reported increasingly hot temperatures, which create ideal conditions for the mosquitoes that spread dengue to hatch en masse and carry higher amounts of the virus.
Essentially the most common symptom amongst those that contract the mosquito-borne disease is fever. Other symptoms include serious headaches, nausea, vomiting, rash and body pain.
Symptoms could be mild or severe. Most dengue fever patients get better in every week, but in severe cases the disease could be life-threatening and require hospitalization since it will possibly lead to shock, internal bleeding and even death.
Those that have had dengue up to now usually tend to develop severe symptoms. An individual can get sick with dengue fever as much as 4 times of their lifetime — once for every form of virus that may cause the disease, in keeping with the CDC.
The newest CDC alert advises health care providers to have increased suspicion of dengue amongst individuals with fever, especially in the event that they have recently been in areas with frequent dengue transmission. They’re advised to quickly report any dengue cases to public health authorities and promote mosquito bite prevention measures.
The CDC said it is also implementing other measures, comparable to improving and expanding laboratory testing to diagnose cases more effectively, in addition to educating the general public on the disease and tips on how to prevent it.
Some helpful prevention methods include staying in places with air-con when possible, using insect repellent and wearing long sleeves and pants to avoid mosquito bites.