Woodshed Environment Coalition

Dengue/MALARIA* Facts

DID YOU KNOW “Millions of people alive today will die of a mosquito-transmitted disease.  Malaria alone claims some 1,000,000 lives a year in Africa.  Other top killers include Dengue, yellow fever, and West Nile virus.  But they won’t die of AIDS. HIV-infected humans actually have very few virus particles in their bloodstream, and should a mosquito suck one up, it gets killed by the mosquito’s digestive system. (Sources: anannimos.blogspot.com)

————————————————————

Lena Gerwick, a biologist and…Scripps researcher, believes that in addition to cancer, the Panamanian environment could be holding biomedically promising sources for treating malaria and tropical diseases such as Chagas’ disease, leishmaniasis, and dengue fever.

Such diseases have been labeled as “neglected” afflictions because they impact millions of people but have been largely forgotten by the developed world and pharmaceutical companies due to the anticipation of poor returns, and thus few resources are made available to find new treatments for these diseases… (Source………x-journals.com)

_________________________

The Aedes aegypti, which spreads yellow fever and dengue, or breakbone fever, was most likely the first stowaway to the Americas. It is native to Africa and scientists believe that it was brought to America through slave trade in the 1500s. In 1501, the Spanish crown authorized Nicolás de Ovando, at that time the governor of the Indies, to begin importing African slaves.  From its initial introduction into the Caribbean, the yellow fever mosquito spread rapidly via the Spanish shipping routes, according to Moore.  It quickly colonized Central and South America, Mexico and the coastal regions of the United States.  At one point, it extended as far north as Philadelphia and Boston during the summers. Benjamin Rush, a physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, described a dengue epidemic in Philadelphia in the late 1700s.  Scientists now know it was transmitted by this mosquito. (Source: news.colostate.edu)

_________________________

Dengue fever is a tropical disease for which there is no specific treatment and that potentially impacts 2.5 billion people globally.  Of the estimated 230 million people infected annually, two million, mostly children, develop dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), a severe form of the disease. Dengue fever occurs mostly in tropical and subtropical countries and is spreading to new parts of the globe each year. (Source: worldpharmanews.com)

______________________

Mosquito-eating fish, Gambusia affinis: These hardy fish can bear up to 60 live young in a brood having 3 or 4 broods in a single season.  Along with rapid reproduction, Gambusia fish are able to survive up to 2 years in very low oxygen saturations, extreme salinities and high temperatures for short periods. A large Gambusia fish can eat up to 200 larvae in an hour.  Domestic inspectors place these fish in various problem areas on their route on a daily basis. The Gambusia fish are used in cisterns, drains, ornamental fountains, rain barrels, ponds and abandoned pools. (Source: Florida Cays Mosquito Control)

_________________________

90% OF MOSQUITO BREEDING PLACES EXIST AT OUR PRIVATE PREMISES.  YES!

________________________

April 07, 2009: DENGUE OUTBREAK in BOLIVIA: During the latest days, the number of cases reduced and authorities estimate than the epidemic will be totally controlled in a month. The number of cases reported daily decreased from 1,500 to 200. The total amount of dengue infections reached 53,000. Last week, Bolivian Health Minister offered support to Argentina in the fight against dengue.  (Source: La Nacion)

________________________

DENGUE OUTBREAK in ARGENTINA: Health Minister, Graciela Ocaña, admitted last week that the situation “is serious” and that 4,147 people had contracted the dengue virus in six provinces. The official figures, lead to the conclusion that the epidemic is the worst since the virus reappeared in the country in the late 1990´s. In the intervening period, the worst outbreaks occurred in 2004 and 2007, with nearly 2,000 cases reported on each occasion, according to the health ministry’s Epidemiology Department. So far the ministry has not officially reported any fatal cases but, in Chaco, two women are said to have died from the illness, and another death has been reported in the adjacent province of Salta. Paraguay and Brazil have also notified cases of dengue fever. (Source: Inter Press Service)

________________________

(The New Nation, Bangladesh’s Independent News Source)

Director, Programme on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Dr Gubler, said this at the first Asia-Pacific dengue workshop in Singapore, organised by the WHO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Environment Agency (NEA):

“The principal drivers of the re-emergence or emergence of epidemic dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are a combination of uncontrolled urbanisation and movement of viruses and vectors not necessarily in this region, but around the world by people in airplanes.”  He said further that “…dengue’s resurgence in the region could be due to the lack of effective mosquito controls in most countries, the movement of virus vectors around the world by air travel, and a continuous importation of new viruses to which people are not immune in the cities.” (Source: wildsingapore news)

_____________________

Dengue Fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of the four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called the ‘break-bone’ fever because it causes severe joint and muscle pain.  In earlier times, this disease was believed to be a curse of Satan, by the witch doctors of Africa. (Source: Dr Ritesh Kohli, MD @ stabroeknews.com)

_______________________

…similar to the development of the sickle-cell trait in mosquito prone areas…people with a single gene for sickle-cell are immune to malaria while a person with both has sickle-cell disease. (Source: svgblog.blogspot.com)

_______________________

More than 500 cases of Dengue Fever were reported in St. Maarten in 2008, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also reported higher rates of Dengue in Saba and CURACAO.  Saba, for example, had 9 cases of Dengue last year, the most on the island in 30 years. (gocaribbean.about.com)

_______________________

The first recognized Dengue epidemics occurred almost simultaneously in Asia, Africa, and North America in the 1780s, shortly after the identification and naming of the disease in 1779. A pandemic began in Southeast Asia in the 1950s, and by 1975 DHF had become a leading cause of death among children in the region. Epidemic dengue has become more common since the 1980s. By the late 1990s, dengue was the most important mosquito-borne disease affecting humans after malaria… (healthtodayinfo.com/?p=83)

_______________________

Alphonse Laveran got the 1907 Nobel Prize for his research on the role of protozoans as disease agents (notably, his discovery of the malaria hematozoon);

Félix d’Herelle discovered in 1917 the bacteriophage, a virus that spread only inside bacteria. (bigdaddyhits.com)

_______________________

“…the research on Dengue shows that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which causes the disease, lives in or around our homes.  The research also demonstrates that the occasional visit to our communities of a vehicle belching out fumes and chemical smoke has no real effect on the mosquitoes that spread Dengue.

Yet, whenever and wherever there is a dengue problem, instead of cleaning out their homes and environs, citizens demand that the government send round the truck with the fumes.  The reason – it makes them feel that something is being done and it saves them from having to deal with the problem themselves.” (Tony Deyal, nationnews.com)

____________________

There will be more tremors and extreme weather events as a result of climate change. The direct impact of climate change on health especially in Dominica will be more mosquitoes and higher incidence of Malaria and Dengue Fever.  All over the world there is increased dissatisfaction with health care services that “are just not meeting people’s needs and expectations.”

Dr. Carissa Etienne, Assistant Director-General of WHO (dominicanewsonline.com)

______________________

Dengue fever, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, affects some 500,000 people a year. It is also spreading at an alarming rate. Only nine countries reported cases of Dengue Fever in 1970, but today it has spread to over 100 countries. (http://localtechwire.com)

__________________

Tropical storm Gustav hit Jamaica on 28 August 2008 with heavy rain and wind causing landslides and flooding. As a consequence, infrastructure, power and water supply were damaged. The government evacuated the most vulnerable areas and opened some 100 emergency shelters housing approximately 2,000 people according to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).

Additionally, a few confirmed cases of malaria were detected. Malaria is very rare in Jamaica and these cases might indicate possible outbreaks resulting from the conditions after the hurricane. (reliefweb.int)

_____________________

The number of people incapacitated with Dengue (in Costa Rica) is down significantly this year (2008) when compared to a year ago. According to a study conducted by the Caja de Seguros (CCSS), the social security system of Costa Rica, about 10,500 persons have been affected by Dengue this year (2008).  5,400 of that number required treatment in hospital, costing the country more than 0.2 million dollars. 25,000 cases of Dengue were reported in 2007. (www.travela.us)

——————

The World Health Organization estimates that 200,000 malaria-related deaths would be avoidable each year if the drugs were effective, of good quality and used correctly. We want to make those 200,000 deaths disappear and help bring the other 800,000 down to zero by making sure every African child has access to safe and effective drugs. Here’s the idea: George Washington had malaria. George Washington is on the one dollar bill. For every dollar we raise, we will buy a good quality and effective malaria treatment for one child AND conduct quality control testing of malaria drugs on the market. You collect the Washingtons, we buy the effective malaria drugs and conduct quality control tests. Current estimates: Child malaria cases – 150 million 60 million child doses of ACT, the best malaria treatment being produced We need about 90 million more Fake and substandard malaria drugs are a big problem in Africa. AFM’s (Africa Fighting Malaria) recent research found that 35% of antimalarials sold in six major African cities failed basic quality control tests. This means a mother buying malaria medicine for her child has a 65% chance that it will work – we need to bring that up to 100%. No march is too small – each march saves a life! Keep it simple. (fightingmalaria.org)

__________________

According to the United Nations Human Development Report, on average, 1 person out of 19 in developing nations can expect to feel the impact of a climate disaster, compared to only 1 of 1,500 in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. And while most people in rich countries can adapt to some of the change with little effort -– by adjusting heating and cooling systems or putting in place flood defences — the poor rarely have such means. Thus, as temperature rises and extreme weather events become more frequent and intense, more poor people are being flooded out of their homes. Health risks are also being amplified, exposing millions to new and more frequent epidemics of mosquito-born diseases like malaria and dengue fever. (7thSpace.com)

______________________

Entomologist Daniel L. Kline tested the attractiveness of socks worn by humans.  The results: Mosquitoes love them.  “I wore the socks for 12 hours on 3 consecutive days.  When I wasn’t wearing the socks, I put them in a sealed plastic bag,” says Kline.  “I also found mosquitoes love Limburger cheese. Interestingly enough, the main ingredient in the cheese is a bacterium that can be found on the human foot,” he says.  Incidentally, Limburger cheese was first made in The Netherlands by monks.  They trampled the cheese with their feet to get the finished product.  Kline tested responses of female Aedes aegypti to the socks, human hands, and Limburger cheese. He used females because only they will take blood.  They need it for reproduction.  In field studies, Kline says the socks alone attracted very few mosquitoes.  However, a significant increase occurred to CO2-baited traps when combined with a worn sock for most mosquitoes, including species of Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex, Culiseta, and Psorophora—major disease-transmitting mosquitoes.  Mosquito responses were favorable in the olfactometer, but the human hand still attracted the most.  “If we can isolate the chemical scent in the socks, then we can use that as an additional attractant,” says Kline. (United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service)

_____________________

“So far, we have found more than 340 different chemical scents produced by human skin, and some of these attract mosquitoes,” says ARS chemist Ulrich R. Bernier.  “Scientists have known for years that lactic acid—present on human skin—is a mosquito attractant. (In 1968, Gainesville scientists discovered lactic acid is an attractant for the yellowfever mosquito.  At that time, carbon dioxide (CO2) was also thought to be necessary to attract mosquitoes.)  So far, this is true for only a handful of species, one of which is the yellowfever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.  Finding what attracts mosquitoes will ultimately help us find ways to control them.” (United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service)

___________________

Dengue is the vector-borne disease of greatest concern in the territory (of the Virgin Islands, British). There were no cases of dengue or dengue hemorrhagic fever reported to the Ministry of Health in 2004; there was one case of dengue fever in 2005. The house index of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes ranged from 1.2 to 3.2 in 2002, compared to 1.7 to 1.8 in 2003. In 2004, the house index for Aedes aegypti ranged between 0.77 and 1.5. There were no cases of malaria or yellow fever in 2001–2005. (Health in the Americas 2007 – British Virgin Islands)

___________________

A newly published study looking at trends in dengue infections in travellers notes the past 20 years have seen a marked expansion of dengue’s turf, from Southeast Asia to the islands of the South Pacific, the Caribbean and the Americas. There have even been domestically acquired infections in some of the southernmost U.S. states. Dengue has become a more common diagnosis than malaria for ill travellers returning from tropical regions except Africa, notes the study, published in the July issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. An analysis of cases reported to the Geosentinel Surveillance Network, an international collaboration of specialized travel and tropical medicine clinics, shows that from October 1997 through February 2006, 522 of nearly 25,000 ill travellers seen at network clinics were diagnosed with dengue or dengue hemorrhagic fever. While that’s only 2.1 per cent, it is also only a fraction of the cases that would actually have occurred during that period, says one of the study authors, Dr. Kevin Kain. Not everyone who gets sick after returning from a trip will end up at a travel clinic looking for care. “Many people will have … feverish illnesses that don’t progress and they just stay at home,” says Kain, director of the travel and tropical medicine clinic at Toronto’s University Health Network. “Or they present to their GP and no one ever does a confirmation test – no one ever does serology (blood testing).

(ctv.ca, The Canadian Press)

___________________

The first epidemics occurred almost simultaneously in Asia, Africa, and North America in the 1780s. The disease was identified and named in 1779. A global pandemic began in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and by 1975 DHF (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever) had become a leading cause of death among children in many countries in that region. Epidemic dengue has become more common since the 1980s. By the late 1990s, dengue was the most important mosquito-borne disease affecting humans after malaria, there being around 40 million cases of dengue fever and several hundred thousand cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever each year.