Dengue Fever Rising in South-East Asia Alongside Coronavirus

Coronavirus pandemic has imposed restrictions and lockdown that has prevented communities from engaging in sanitation works, leading to accumulation of stagnant water and detritus. This acts as breeding-grounds for the deadly dengue-virus carrying mosquitoes. This comes as a shock to nations as they scramble to deal with the second wave of the pandemic. The global coronavirus lockdown may have slowed down the spread of the pandemic, but has spurred the dengue fever especially in South-East Asia with Singapore being the worst-hit.

Cameron Simmons, director of Institute of Vector-Borne Disease at Melbourne stated that,”Lockdowns are placing more people at home than they normally would.While no evidence has emerged proving a direct link, lockdowns could potentially have created an environment where mosquitoes are interacting more with the population than they would otherwise.”

Dengue is a vector-born disease, that causes high fever, crushing-joint pain, rashes and in some cases, fatal shock. For the same reason, it is also known as the breakbone fever. The Aedes mosquitoes acts as the vector and thrives in unclean and stagnant water.

It is mainly seen in tropical regions like India, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Singapore is facing its worst crisis in the history of the disease with 165 news cases being reported per day, in the second week of June. The National Environmental Agency of Singapore reported that it expected to see a surge in the number of dengue cases in the country in 2020, that would surpass the largest outbreak in history of Singapore.

The viral infection has no specific treatment and requires early diagnosis and proper management. Without proper care it has a fatality of over 50 percent. With emerging cases and limited medical resources, it is becoming more challenging to treat the disease.

The new challenge would be to deal with dengue by observing the trend of its outbreak, along with preparing additional measures to combat coronavirus.

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Source-Medindia