Dengue

Dengue

Instead of doing my normal moment by moment account of what I have been up to lately, I have decided to talk a little about one topic. Today’s topic is dengue fever.

This is a very important topic for me and all those in Honduras (as well as many other countries). This year the dengue epidemic is very bad, the public hospitals are full and have to turn away patients. There have been many deaths this year due to hemorrhagic dengue. The rainy season is the perfect time for this to spread.

The virus is carried by a mosquito. The mosquito bites an infected person, and then can transmit the virus to the next person it bites. Dengue is a virus, so there are no preventative measures such as vaccines that can be taken. The best defense is to use mosquito repellent.

The rainy season provides all kinds of stagnant water for the mosquitoes to breed in. The amount of water held by half an egg shell is all the water they need. Now, keep in mind that this country relies on pilas, or open cement tanks to store water, and you have a perfect mosquito breeding spot in or right outside the house. Available through public health centers are what is called “abate,” which kills mosquito eggs in the water, and this needs to be placed in the pilas to prevent mosquito reproduction. The puddles and other water sources in homes are another risk.

Due to the almost limitless amount of spaces for the mosquitos to reproduce, the government is sponsoring a major fumigation campaign. This is a lot bigger in the capitol, Tegucigalpa, because that is where the majority of cases have been so far. My area is also seeing high numbers. Last night the school across the street from my house was fumigated in an effort to protect the kids. My host Mother, who had dengue earlier this year, has fumigated her house twice in the last few months.

The virus itself needs five days in the body before it will show itself. The symptoms are general cold/flu symptoms with body aches, fever, tiredness, etc. The scare is hemorrhagic dengue which comes about when the blood platelet levels are very low. After five more days, a very itchy rash is common. Then, your mind wants to be able to go back to doing normal things, but your body needs more time to recover and gain strength or else you can come down with an opportunistic infection.

I am very good about applying the repellent, and take my naps under my mosquito net to make sure I don’t get bit then. There are four versions of the virus and a lot of volunteers come down with at least one during their time here.