dengue

Tropical viral fever transmitted by mosquitoes and accompanied by joint pains, headache, rash, and glandular swelling. The incubation time is a week and the fever also lasts about a week. A more virulent form, dengue haemorrhagic fever, is thought to be caused by a second infection on top of the first, and causes internal bleeding. It affects mainly children. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are more than 50 million cases annually in the tropics causing over 10,000 deaths(2006).

In the late 1990s an increase in dengue fever was observed in some areas where it is not normally a problem. The increase is believed to result from a growing spread of mosquitoes as global warming raises temperatures, widening the geographical range of their habitats. Two-fifths of the world population are now at risk (2006).

The island of Maui, Hawaii, had 26 confirmed cases of dengue fever in October 2001, and tests were carried out on more than 100 suspected cases on Maui and the other Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai. The cases were Hawaii's first outbreak of dengue in more than half a century.