Global Impact Of Dengue Fever And The Fight Against The Disease
A survey reports that annually there are around seventy five million dengue patients reported across the globe. In which, 500000 patients are reported fatal, with some people losing their life due to lack of treatment. Dengue is prevalent in most of the African countries. It is especially observed in Sudan, Angola, and zaire. Local people have developed resistance to this disease. So the scientists are examining and researching over these locals to develop a vaccine for dengue. Although local people are resistant to dengue most of the foreigners and travelers visiting these countries tend to catch dengue. So traveler has to be cautionary and use precautionary measures.
There was a recent outbreak of dengue fever in Singapore which took a toll on lot of lives. This incident was compared to SARS outbreak in 2003. After this incident Singapore government has spent around thirty million Singaporean dollars for campaigning and control measure of dengue fever, which left the government clueless. Singapore is not the only victim for dengue and dengue related casualties. Indonesia also has its share of about 80 thousand cases and thousand deaths in the year of 2005 alone. Malaysia has 32 thousand deaths and 100 deaths in the same year. The increase in dengue fever has cancelled some minor operations to provide bed facility for dengue patients.
Diseases are the worst enemy for the economic prowess of a country. Dengue has highly impacted on the economic growth of South East Asian countries. Most of the south East Asian countries are spending millions of dollars every year to spread awareness and create infrastructure to support the treatment of dengue. Singapore has set up a separate wing and ministry to control the epidemic diseases, especially dengue. The awareness has increased; still the casualties are reported now and then.
Dengue will be characterized by acute fever for a week and sporadic feverishness for a couple of weeks. The associated symptoms are headache, nausea, and vomiting and body pain. When the condition gets worsened dengue will cause internal hemorrhage - resulting in bleeding of internal organs. The patients will feel tired throughout the day and will possess some respiratory problems like cough, sore throat and breathing difficulty. Most distinct symptoms of dengue are the appearance of rashes all over the body, especially concentrated in chest, abdomen and arm pit. The blood test will instantly prove the onset of dengue. Blood test will show a drastic reduction of platelet cells, and the condition being referred to as thrombocytopenia.
As dengue is epidemic and can easily spread within a region, government spends more money in educating the people by public address, television advertisement, distributing pamphlet and conducting group activities. Sanitary infrastructure has to be proper to prevent the disease from spreading during the rainy season and summer season. This will directly impact the multiplication of dengue virus and aedes mosquito, which is the agent to transfer the virus, as stagnant water is the main place for aedes mosquito breeding.