The Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long had a comprehensive resource online that traces the history of Dengue Fever from the first reported epidemics in 1779-1780 in Asia, Africa, and North America to what is essentially a current pandemic with worldwide distribution.
The Caribbean region suffered in 2007 what could arguably be dubbed the worst ever Dengue Outbreak in this tropical backyard.
Read the brief History of Dengue Fever here.
In the 1950′s and 1960′s, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) embarked upon an eradication programme against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of Dengue Fever, in the Caribbean and South America. When the mosquito had either been eradicated or controlled, interest in Mosquito Control waned. Even the United States lost interest in the 1970′s, the result being that aegypti was allowed to reinfest the region.
Asia and the Pacific region were not immune to the apathy associated with the mosquito. Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives had their first Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) epidemics in the ’80′s as the disease expanded in reach. Epidemic Dengue also reemerged in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China around that time.
The trend did not slow down and a decade later (1994), Pakistan reported a Dengue epidemic of its own. Singapore too had a resurgence of DF and DHF.
The common thread linking all of these events is the fact that Dengue had been absent in those countries for between 20 and 35 years. The epidemics have become more and more intense and widespread all the way into the 21st century, hence the afflictions we have today.
Read PAHO’s notes on the Current Trends of Dengue here.
The Future Outlook does not look promising. There is yet no effective Dengue vaccine available for public use. Researchers have, however, been hard at work to come up with one. Various techniques have reached certain levels of efficacy. It is only in recent times though that human volunteer testing has been seriously contemplated. In sum, therefore, it will be some time before the Dengue Fever epidemics such as what the Caribbean underwent in 2007 will be reversed and rendered under control once more.
In light of this, Caribbean Vector Control programmes must be elevated from the basic disease prevention and mosquito control to laboratory-based surveillance systems that will provide the public with timely alerts of impending epidemics and arm physicians with improved tools and skills for accurate diagnose and proper treatment of Dengue Fever and the complications of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and Dengue Shock Syndrome.
Read about the Future Outlook on Dengue here.
Additional Resource: Dengue according to Adventure Doc
THING YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT MOSQUITOES.... It would take 1,200,000 mosquitoes, each sucking once, to completely drain the average human of blood. (Sources: discovermagazine.com / anannimos.blogspot.com) - Now you know.
Pingback: UN reports say Dengue infections to triple this century « Woodshed Environment