A rising number of cases of dengue fever are being reported in Maylasia, according to a report by the country’s health minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai.

“We are seriously considering imposing a quarantine,” he said. “This was among the measures used by other countries to contain the problem.”

During the first 40 weeks of the year, there were 35,227 dengue cases, including 78 deaths nationwide, with 105 cases in the Sept 28 to Oct 4 week.

“Previously, there was a small percentage of dengue haemorrhagic fever which can kill, but now it is up to 50 percent of the dengue cases,” said the health minister.

Some patients were also infected with Chikungunya, spread by the same mosquito.

Several measures are being taken to contain the disease, including mass fogging, search-and-destroy teams sent to find mosquito breeding grounds, and a campaign to raise awareness. The health department also invited a virologist to capture the mosquitos and identify the type of dengue which was being spread here.

“We have to see if the joint effects (of Chikungunya and dengue) are causing the short and acute dengue fever and the deaths,” said the health minister.

There are also an increased number of EV-71 cases this year in Maylasia, authorities said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Executive Editor

Posted: October 31st, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Developing Diseases, Diseases, EV71.
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Mobile phone developer Nokia has developed a new software to help health care organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) more accurately collect data on critical issues such as disease outbreaks. The Amazonas State Health Department in Brazil will be the first to use the solution as part of its fight against dengue fever in the city of Manaus in Northern Brazil.

The data gathering software can be used on mobile phones to create tailored questionnaires and distribute them to multiple mobile phones using a normal mobile network.

Field personnel surveying local conditions can quickly complete the questionnaires and immediately transmit their findings to a central database. The system also allows organizations to geo-tag data with GPS location information to build a more detailed picture of very local conditions.

“Sound decisions are based on the analysis of fresh, accurate data. However, for organizations with a remote or mobile workforce, this is easier said than done. Information related to health, agriculture, and environmental conditions is often recorded on paper, transported, and transcribed, in a process that can take months and result in errors. Nokia Data Gathering aims to improve accuracy and deliver information in near real-time, helping decision-makers to improve the delivery of social services,” said Gregory Elphinston, director of community involvement at Nokia.

Accurate and timely information is essential when monitoring the effectiveness of disease prevention measures and preventing further outbreaks. This is the basis for the deployment of Nokia Data Gathering in Brazil by the Amazonas State Health Department, SUSAM (Secretaria de Estado de Saude do Amazonas), which will be using the solution to monitor outbreaks of disease and the effectiveness of prevention programs in the city of Manaus.

Beginning next month, 50 field personnel equipped with Nokia E61 and Nokia E71 devices will take to the street in the metropolitan region of Manaus focusing initially on dengue fever.

According to Agnaldo Costa, State Health Secretary of Amazonas State, “the transmission of information immediately after the interviews gives us improved agility, increases public safety, and avoids the manual filling-in of forms which is usually a difficult and time-consuming process.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director and Nancy Bruening, Executive Editor

The lowly mobile phone is the latest dengue-fever fighting tool.

Posted: September 26th, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Diseases.
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Four individuals who were infected with dengue fever all died within a week in Raymah and Hodeidah provinces of Yemen, Member of Parliament Mohammed Al-Assali said.

Sultan Al-Maqtari, the manager of Hodeidah province’s Epidemic Recording Office, says that the office has discovered that 12 of those infected with dengue fever since the beginning of May and that another 112 individuals believed to be carrying the infection were taken to the central laboratory to be checked for the disease.

Three of the patients, a mother and daughter and another woman, were from Raymah province, while the fourth victim was a 4-year-old girl from Hodeidah province.

Al-Maqtari noted that his office had conducted anti-mosquito spraying in Dair Al-Atta and Al-Rahmah villages, in addition to giving residents the required preventive medicines. He believes the team told residents about the necessity of draining swamps and eliminating stagnant open waters, which attract mosquitoes.

Earlier this month, 180 new cases of suspected dengue fever were reported in five provinces, 115 of which were confirmed to be dengue fever sufferers.

According to a health ministry report, the total number of dengue fever cases so far this year now is approaching 2,100. The report notes that the disease, found in only five provinces last year – Shabwa, Hodeidah, Abyan, Hadramout, and Lahj – has been discovered in 13 provinces this year.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Symptoms of dengue fever.

Posted: July 14th, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Diseases.
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Researchers have determined why pregnant yellow fever mosquitoes, the most notorious disease transmitters worldwide, choose to lay their eggs in certain outdoor water containers.

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the North Carolina State researchers show that certain chemicals emanating from bacteria in water containers stimulate the female mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The mosquitoes sense these chemical cues and decide that the water container is a preferable environment for their larvae.

The findings have implications for doctors who are devising lures and traps that might help control yellow fever mosquito populations in equatorial locations around the globe, which would go a long way toward preventing important global diseases like dengue fever and yellow fever, say the study’s lead authors, Dr. Charles Apperson and Dr. Coby Schal, professors of entomology at NC State. Postdoctoral researchers Dr. Loganathan Ponnusamy and Dr. Ning Xu and senior researcher Dr. Satoshi Nojima also co-authored the paper.

“Some water-filled containers are rejected by the female mosquito,” Apperson says. “If we filter the bacteria out, the mosquitoes want no part of the water container. But put the filtered bacteria back in the water container, and the mosquitoes will be stimulated to lay eggs.”

When the researchers discerned the specific chemical compounds that stimulated increased egg-laying — a combination of fatty acids and methylesters — they exposed the mosquitoes to varied concentrations of the chemical concoction. High concentrations of the concoction gave the mosquitoes pause, causing them to withhold their eggs.

Now, researchers hope to use this factor against female mosquitoes. Stimulating females to lay eggs in water containers that have lethal chemicals or insect growth regulators could be another tool in the overall strategy kit to control mosquitoes — and dreaded infectious diseases like dengue fever.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director
 

Journal reference:

Loganathan Ponnusamy, Ning Xu, Satoshi Nojima, Coby Schal and Charles Apperson, Dawn M. Wesson. Identification of bacteria and bacteria-associated chemical cues that mediate oviposition site preferences by Aedes aegypti. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Online July 7, 2008

Posted: July 9th, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Developing Diseases, Diseases.
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The Ministry of Health of Vietnam this week warned that dengue fever — also known as petechial fever — is spreading at an alarming pace in the country’s southern provinces. During the past week, more than 1,400 dengue fever patients in 27 locations were reported by doctors. Four of the patients died, increasing the total number of cases to 19,859 so far this year, including 20 deaths.

Provinces with the highest numbers of patients are Ho Chi Minh City, with 3,754 cases and two dead, Soc Trang, with 1,717 cases and one dead, and Tien Giang, with 1,489 cases and one dead.  

Government health officials said that though the total number of patients is less than last year’s figure, the disease could spread even more widely as the rainy season has now arrived.

The Preventive Health and Environment Agency, a division of the Health Ministry, also warned that many other kinds of diseases are continuing to develop. Three northern provinces have recorded several cases of acute diarrhea with Vibrio cholerae bacterium, experts said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Patients being treated for petechial fever in Vietnam.

Posted: June 25th, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) this week said that new global weather patterns are causing the increase in the incidence of diseases. The spread of the disease raises the risk of painful, premature death for millions, particularly the poor in Asia.”Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are now found in areas where there was no malaria before,” said Shigeru Omi, the director of the WHO’s Western Pacific office.  “They are spreading to cooler climes from the tropics. For dengue, there are many other factors responsible for the rise of the mosquitoes. But I am sure that climate change is certainly playing one of the many roles, that much we can say,” Omi said.The theme for World Health Day 2008 — that’s today, Monday, April 7 — is climate change. Another U.N. agency, UNICEF, today issued a statement which warns that the impact of climate change could fall “disproportionately on women and children.”Most of the deaths due to disease being “amplified” by global climate change will happen in Asia, according to the WHO.  The Asia-Pacific region has already showed signs of “increased incidence of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition,” as well as and flooding due to changing weather patterns, says Omi.– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Dengue fever is spreading more quickly due to global climate conditions, WHO says.

Posted: April 7th, 2008 under Dengue Fever, Developing Diseases, Malaria.
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NIH Radio, a service of the National Institutes of Health, is reporting that dengue fever, a tropical disease that is unknown to most Americans, is now threatening U.S. shores.What follows is a partial transcript of the report, and a link to the podcast at the National Institutes of Health audio reports site.– The EditorsWally Akinso, Reporter, NIH Radio:  A virus, most Americans have never heard of, could become a potential health threat. Previously confined to tropical and subtropical climates, dengue, a mosquito-borne virus, is becoming a much more serious problem along the U.S.-Mexico border in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Dr. David Morens, senior scientific advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the widespread of dengue in the continental United States is a real possibility.Dr. Morens: There is a theoretical risk of transmission and cases and even epidemic, hopefully small ones, in a number of states that we don’t think of as being tropical.Akinso: Those who get the illness sometimes experience minor bleeding, such as from the nose or gums, high fever, serve headache, pain behind the eyes and in joints and muscles, a rash and dropping of blood pressure. Early diagnosis and treatment of dengue is critical to preventing shock and death. Dr. Morens is optimistic that scientist will develop a vaccine.To hear the full audio report, go tohttp://www.nih.gov/news/radio/feb2008/20080215Dengue.htm

Posted: April 3rd, 2008 under Audio-Video Reports, Dengue Fever.
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