The fear psychosis that dengue fever had created in the world just a couple of years ago has not subsided completely yet. The scare still goes on, and governments are regularly arming themselves against a recurrence of the terrible debilitating condition.

The dengue fever has traveled almost everywhere in the southern hemisphere (mostly tropics) in the few recent years. The fever was first discovered in 1780, when there was a simultaneous pandemic in America, Africa and Asia. The next huge epidemic recorded was in Southeast Asia in the 1950s. In the early months of 2002, there was another historic epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, which affected one million people. In recorded history, there have been mentionable outbreaks of dengue fever once ever five or ten years around the world.

Though dengue is a very highly infectious disease, its mortality rate is very low. Deaths usually occur due to ignorance of the methods of treatment. In advanced countries, the mortality rates of dengue are almost zero. However it is necessary to prevent the disease due to the painful symptoms that it causes as long as it lasts.

In the Swahili language ki denga pepo, the local name for dengue fever, means ‘a seizure with cramp-like symptoms caused due to an evil spirit’. The Spanish people took over this phrase and turned it into their own language to come up with ‘dengue’. The word stuck and became famous all over the world

Dengue fever or dandaka jwara is a viral disease that is transmitted through the agency of a mosquito. The viruses responsible for the dengue fever are the four viruses of the Flavivirus genus of the family Flaviviridae. These viruses are transmitted among the humans by two kinds of mosquitoes – the aedes aegypti mosquito (the same mosquito that is responsible for the transmission of chikungunya), and aedes albopictus.

Dengue is characterized by the onset of heavy fever conditions after infection. There are headaches and muscle aches, accompanied by severe pain in the joints. For this reason, the disease is also called as the bone-breaker or the bone-crusher disease. Dengue fever is also accompanied by the presence of very characteristic red rash all over the body, but most prominently on the chest and the limbs. In most cases, the patient has feelings of nausea and vomiting.

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As already mentioned above, dandaka jwara or dengue fever is caused due to infection with a virus of the Flaviviridae family. The agency through which the virus travels is the aedes aegypti or the aedes albopictus mosquito.

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There are three different types of dengue fever classified according to their symptoms. The following table gives a comprehensible overview of these types of dengue fever and the symptoms associate with them.

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The common symptoms of all kinds of dengue fever are a high fever, vomiting (occasionally with blood), acute pain in the joints, headache and the development of a rash that encompasses the whole body, but is seen more prominently on the chest and the hands and legs. For a more detailed list of symptoms with the type of dengue fever, refer to the list given above.

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Medication for dengue fever must be prompt. If you get any type of fever in the rainy season, you must rush immediately to the doctor and assure yourself that it is not dengue. Dengue left untreated for a day or two can complicate into major forms of dengue which can be fatal.

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Dengue is extremely infectious; in fact, it is labeled as the most infectious of all insect-borne diseases. The mosquitoes that bear the dengue viruses are active in the daytime, and hence this is the time when the disease is transmitted the most.

It should be noted that the mosquitoes that carry dengue, i.e. aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus, are both quite localized and they do not travel even a half kilometer in their whole life. Hence, though the mosquito spreads the disease, it is not the highest transmitter of the disease. The mosquitoes can bite only people in their near vicinity. But when these people travel abroad, they carry the virus with them and transmit dengue to other regions. For this reason, travelers play a very important role in the transmission of dengue.

Dengue transmission is very high in the tropical countries. Countries like Indonesia, Philippines, China, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are highly susceptible to the disease. An epidemic outbreak in Indonesia in 2004 was singly responsible for 800 deaths from the disease.

Each year, about 100 cases of dengue are reported in the US. A majority of these cases are due to people traveling from tropical countries. Most advanced countries today are taking dire precautions to prevent the virus from entering their countries.

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The most important method employed by authorities all over the world for the prevention of dengue fever is to control the spread of the mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus mosquitoes breed in stagnating water. Hence water should not be allowed to accumulate near the houses. Medicines like Abate are introduced in the water, which aim at killing the larvae of the mosquitoes. Some of these sprayed chemicals form a film on the surface of the water and thus cut the oxygen supply for the mosquito larvae breeding underneath.

At a household level too, steps are taken to prevent the accumulation of water. Water in the air-conditioning, flower pots, fountains and aquaria must be removed or changed from time to time. While sleeping at night, mosquito repellant devices must be used. Putting nets on the windows, sleeping under a mosquito net, using mosquito repellants (such as those containing allethrin) or fogging out the mosquitoes must be used. If a person contracts dengue, then drastic measures must be taken to prevent him or her from being bitten by any more mosquitoes. If that happens, the nearest family members will be next in line to contract dengue fever.

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As in all fevers, the diet used for dengue fever must be quite simple and easy to digest. The following guidelines need to be followed:-

• Rice gruel (kanji) is very good food for dengue patients. If the rice gruel is too bland it can be flavored with a dash of lemon juice. Alternatively some curds can be mixed with rice and had with boiled vegetables. Oil must be avoided.
• Porridge and baked toasts (not fried) can be had for allaying hungers in the course of the day. Biscuits with tea can be had. The tea must be herbal, with tulsi, ginger, cardamom and other such fever-reducing herbs in it.
• There should be absolutely no spices in the diet. Even salt must be curtailed.
• Fruits must be taken in moderation. For people with dengue fever, apples and plantains are the only advisable fruits.

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