Global warming marked by higher average temperatures, precipitation and longer periods of drought, could prompt a record number of dengue infections worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
“About half of the world’s population is at risk of dengue, and dengue affects approximately 129 countries,” said Dr. Raman Velayudhan, WHO’s head of the Global Program on control of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The United Nations agency working to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.
“We estimate that about 100 to 400 million cases are reported every year. This is basically an estimate and the American region alone has reported about 2.8 million cases and 101,280 deaths.”
Dengue, also called breakbone fever, is the most common viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. Most people with dengue do not have symptoms and recover in one to two weeks. But some people develop severe dengue and need hospital care.
“In some cases, especially when you get the infection for the second time, which we call a secondary infection, this can lead to severe dengue and it can be fatal too,” said Velayudhan in a recent briefing with journalists at the UN in Geneva.
Dengue is spread by the Aedes species of mosquito. The disease is more common in tropical and subtropical climates. Its incidence has grown dramatically worldwide in recent decades, said Velayudhan.
“In 2000, we had about half a million cases and today in 2022 we recorded over 4.2 million, which really shows an eight-fold increase.” He said that number could well increase “as we get more and more accurate figures.”
Asia represents around 70 percent of the global disease burden and the future outlook is bleak, according to the WHO expert. In Europe, the Aedes mosquito is well established and dengue and chikungunya infections have been reported for more than a decade. Chikungunya cases in the Philippines have increased by 329 percent in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, the Department of Health reported recently.
“European countries are also on alert because Europe had recorded an Aedes transmission of either dengue or chikungunya since 2010,” said Velayudhan. “We have had more outbreaks since then and it is estimated that the mosquito is present in about 22 European countries.”
Numerous factors in addition to climate change have driven the spread of dengue fever, such as the increased movement of people and goods, urbanization and pressure on water and sanitation.
“The mosquito manages to survive even when there is water scarcity,” said the WHO expert. “So, both during a flood situation as well as a drought situation, dengue can increase. The virus and the vector multiply faster at a higher temperature. This is a well-known fact.”
Dengue fever does not have a specific treatment and there is no direct drug intervention available. Usually, the disease is treated with medicines to treat fever and pain.
A dengue test takes two to three days before a reliable result is available.
Several new tools are under development that provide greater hope for preventing and controlling dengue, such as better diagnostics. A few antivirals are undergoing clinical trials. UN News