Right now, Dengue fever is a much bigger deal. Here’s a story about last year’s outbreak. Really interesting epidemiological discussion in the article.
There are four variations of Dengue fever, and you can only contract each version once, as the body develops antibodies to the virus. Unfortunately, as anyone who has had any of the varieties will tell you, once is enough. There are no medications for the disease, antibiotics are ineffective and may only prevent secondary infections and further reduce the bodies ability to combat the disease. Hospitalization can be required and intravenous fluids administered to prevent dehydration, a major threat of the infection.
The first reported epidemics of Dengue occurred in 1779-1780 in Asia, Africa, and North America. The near simultaneous occurrence of outbreaks on three continents indicates that these viruses and their mosquito vector have had a worldwide distribution in the tropics for more than 200 years.
A pandemic of dengue began in Southeast Asia after World War II and has spread around the globe since then. Epidemics caused by multiple serotypes (hyperendemicity) are more frequent, the geographic distribution of dengue viruses and their mosquito vectors has expanded, and DHF has emerged in the Pacific region and the Americas. In Southeast Asia, epidemic DHF first appeared in the 1950s, but by 1975 it had become a frequent cause of hospitalization and death among children in many countries in that region. The unusual 1975 outbreak was particularly virulent in Southeast Asia and that year was the 5th leading cause of infectious death of children under 10 in that region.
They’re currently spraying the neighborhoods nightly, I’m assuming with Malathion. With hurricanes lined up oin the Pacific, conditions for Dengue are projected to worsen (for us) and improve (for the mosquitoes) for several weeks.
Needless to say, we’re remaining vigilant, against both mosquitoes and scorpions.