It doesn’t have its celebrity fundraisers, unlike AIDS. It hasn’t made the headlines in the way that bird flu or SARS have. It isn’t feared in the way that polio or TB are, and yet dengue fever can kill and is spreading around the world to an unprecedented degree. The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that annual transmissions of the disease may breach 390 million. This year, infections are breaking records all over Asia and Latin America — from sweeping epidemics in Nicaragua to the worse outbreaks in six years in India, 20 years in Thailand and the first homegrown case in Western Australia in seven decades. Even temperate climates are now stalking grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Almost 3 billion people, or 40% of the world’s population, live in areas where there is a risk of dengue transmission. Previously known as breakbone fever, owning to the excruciating muscle and joint pain inflicted, dengue first came to the fore in Southeast Asia during World War II, when large numbers of troops were afflicted with it. Up until the 1960s the disease was largely controlled with DDT, which decimated mosquito populations. But the mosquitoes crept back after the chemical was banned for its severe side effects and ever since “we have seen an ever increasing march of the virus into new territories and new recipient populations,” says Paul Young, professor at the University of Queensland in Australia and president of the Australian Society for Microbiology, who has been researching dengue for almost three decades. Mention dengue and most people will think of aches and chills. But the disease is far more dangerous than that. Dengue causes white-blood-cell counts to plummet, making the body susceptible to secondary infections; even more alarmingly, it has a similar effect to platelets, impairing blood’s ability to clot. If left untreated, and particularly on a second infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever can take hold, and patients can suffer internal bleeding, shock and death. While malaria rates have fallen 25% worldwide since 2000 — including a … Continue reading If You’re Not Worried About Dengue Fever, Here’s Why You Should Be