Dengue fever rife in the Caribbean and Latin America

Oct 17 2007

Even though Latin America and the Caribbean are facing up to one of the worst outbreaks of dengue fever in decades, this information is not being passed on to travellers.

Warnings about the threat of Dengue in the region have been issued by both the Pan American Health Organisation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

The Pan American Health Organisation says cases of the mosquito-borne illness, nicknamed "breakbone fever" for its agonising symptoms, could well reach epidemic proportions this winter.

The CDC too has issued a dengue-outbreak notice for destinations including Mexico, Brazil, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

To date 5,400 people in the Dominican Republic have been hospitalised and up to 60 new cases are being reported every day.

Health authorities in Puerto Rico and Jamaica have issued alerts, and the government of St Lucia is also on alert as it says current conditions would sustain a dengue epidemic.

There have already been 630,356 cases of dengue fever reported across Latin America and the Caribbean this year which is 11% more than in the whole of 2006.

Dengue fever symptoms are flu-like with severe pain in joints and behind the eyes and although most victims recover after a few days, 12,147 have developed haemorrhagic fever where internal and external bleeding occurs and 183 of those have died.

The female Aedes mosquitoes is the culprit and it infects humans with the disease when they bite; symptoms usually develop within 4-7 days of a person being bitten.

Experts warn that warm, wet conditions this winter, caused by the climatic event known as La Niña, could push total cases over 1m yet few tour operators pass this information on.

Experts say there is no vaccine or cure for dengue fever and 5% of those infected develop either haemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome; both are extremely serious and require hospitalisation.

Health officials focus on eradicating mosquitoes to prevent infections.

Travellers are advised to take precautions against being bitten by using insect repellent especially at dawn and dusk which are peak biting times, and check that hotels provide mosquito nets.

A Dengue fever epidemic has killed 389 people and infected more than 38,000 in Cambodia, which is battling one of the worst outbreaks in years.