Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are serious infectious viral diseases that can cause symptoms that mimic the flu, like muscle and joint pain and rashes that are normally accompanied by severe headaches and fever. Dengue is a virus that is carried by the Aedes mosquito and it is most often found in tropical and subtropical climates. The rate of infection of dengue fever has increased over the past few years and is the second most severe vector-borne viral disease, next to malaria, in humans today. While dengue fever has not reached endemic proportions yet in Korea, the risk of contracting the virus has increased due to the number of Koreans traveling to areas where dengue fever is prevalent.
History
The dengue virus has been a prominent viral infection in Asian countries since the first case was recorded in 1779. After a random outbreak in Philadelphia occurred in 1780, the majority of the pandemics over the last 200 plus years have occurred in China, Mongolia, India and Africa. In the 1950s a global pandemic took place in Southeast Asia and by 1975, dengue fever related fatalities were a leading cause of child death in the region. Dengue fever outbreaks seem to occur in 10 to 30 year intervals and with the explosion of international travel and relocations in the last 30 years, the occurrences of dengue fever in countries that border the outbreak zones, like Korea, have only increased. Nowadays, tens of millions of cases of dengue fever occur each year, with an estimated 40 cases in Korea in 2007.
Types
Dengue fever is the most commonly contracted form of the virus and has the lowest mortality rate. Dengue hemorrhagic fever, also known as "shock syndrome," is a severe form of the virus that can be fatal. Both dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by one of four strains or sterotypes of closely related, yet distinct virus types. DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4 are the four virus types that can cause the dengue fever virus found in the exported cases; those contracted by Korean travelers. Because each strain is antigenically distinct, an individual does not become immune to the virus by contracting one strain. It is possible, and in fact common, for a person to contract up to two strands at different times throughout his life.
Considerations
Imported cases of dengue fever are increasing at alarming rates as more and more Koreans travel into areas of recurring pandemics. Though dengue fever is still not endemic in Korea, it is being contracted at higher rates by Korean nationals because of the continuing growth of travel in Asian areas that are at high risk of the dengue-carrying mosquitoes. One important factor that has come from the increase of the disease in Koreans is the injury caused to the liver. Liver injury by the dengue virus is only common in cases found in Koreans who traveled in Asia and the South Pacific, though the pathogenic mechanism behind this rare injury has not been determined. While the injury to the liver can be severe, most patients have made full recoveries.
Prevention/Solution
There is currently no vaccine for dengue fever, so the methods to preventing its occurrence are based on general precaution around mosquitoes when traveling outside the United States, in tropical areas where dengue fever is most prevalent. The best method of prevention is to avoid contact with mosquitoes, but when that isn't possible you should always use a mosquito repellent, preferably one containing DEET. Dress in protective clothing, wearing long sleeves, pants and closed shoes. The Aedes mosquito bites during the day, so avoid wearing scented perfume or lotion that may attract mosquitoes.
Potential
Dengue fever currently has no vaccine, but at the United States Medical Research Lab in Bangkok, scientists believe they are close to finding a vaccine. After decades of research and failed attempts, developers believe that there will be two experimental vaccines available no later than 2015. In an interview given in November of 2008, Duane J. Gubler, the director of the emerging infectious diseases department of the Duke-N.U.S. Graduate Medical School in Singapore said, "We're further along with the dengue vaccine than we've ever been. There's a good possibility that we'll have a vaccine in 5 to 7 years."
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