Recently, dengue fever cases have surged in countries or regions such as Brazil, Singapore and the Americas, and the epidemic is serious, with more than 1,000 deaths, causing widespread concern. Dengue fever can be transmitted by mosquito bites, and after the Qingming Festival, continuous rainfall and temperature gradually rise, mosquitoes begin to breed and reproduce into an active period, and we need to be vigilant against the transmission of dengue fever caused by mosquito bites.
1. What is dengue fever?
Dengue fever is an acute vector-borne infection caused by mosquito-borne dengue virus. Most people infected with dengue fever do not have symptoms. For symptomatic people, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash. Most patients get better within 1-2 weeks. Some people develop severe dengue fever and need to be treated in hospital. In severe cases, dengue fever can be fatal. Dengue fever is an arboviral disease with the most widespread distribution, the largest number of cases and the most harmful in the world, and it is also a Class B infectious disease stipulated in the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases in the mainland.
2. Epidemic status of dengue fever
From the perspective of global epidemiology, dengue fever is mainly endemic in tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia, the western Pacific region, the Americas and Africa. Over the past two decades, the global incidence of dengue fever has increased significantly, posing a major public health challenge. In mainland China, dengue fever is mainly endemic in Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan and Taiwan, but in recent years, due to climate change, ecological environment change, globalization, urbanization and other factors, the distribution range of dengue vector Aedes mosquitoes has been expanding to the west and north, and the spatial distribution of dengue fever in mainland China has expanded significantly. Imported cases of dengue fever have been reported in our city in recent years.
3. Vectors of dengue fever
Dengue fever is mainly transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, which is transmitted by female Aedes mosquitoes who carry the dengue virus for life after biting an infected person, and then biting a healthy person. People of all ages are generally susceptible to dengue fever.
According to statistics, there are more than 10 species of Aedes mosquitoes that can transmit dengue virus, mainly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in the mainland, among which, in Wuhan City, Aedes albopictus is the main one. Aedes albopictus mosquito, also known as "Asian tiger mosquito" and "flower mosquito", is widely distributed in residential areas, parks and other places where people gather in urban areas.
Trivia: Mosquitoes are completely metamorphosed insects, with four insect states: eggs, larvae (孑孓), pupae and adults, of which the first three insect states are all developed in water. Aedes albopictus mosquito, the vector of dengue fever, prefers small, cleaner stagnant water, such as those formed in small containers such as tires, flower pots, plastic bowls, etc.
4. How to prevent dengue fever?
There is currently no vaccine for dengue prevention. The key to preventing the spread of dengue fever lies in mosquito prevention and control, and the key to mosquito control is to remove stagnant water.
1. Clean up mosquito breeding grounds
(1) Turn over pots and cans to remove idle and useless stagnant water. Remove discarded containers, and temporarily idle and unused containers should be flipped and turned upside down one by one. Tires should be stacked neatly and stored indoors or in a rain-sheltered place, if they are stacked outdoors, they should be tightly covered with a rainproof cloth to avoid rainwater. If it cannot be effectively covered, the waste tires must be perforated to prevent water accumulation.
(2) Remove sanitary dead corners and garbage. Remove plastic film and disposable plastic containers from green belts and sanitary dead corners.
(3) Management of water accumulation in drinking water or functional containers. Drinking water containers or functional containers are required to be tightly covered, and the water should be changed once every 5~7 days.
(4) Grow a vase of aquatic plants, change the water once every 5~7 days, rinse the roots of the plants, thoroughly wash the inner wall of the container, and large lotus tanks and pools can be stocked with mosquito-eating fish.
(5) Treatment of bamboo tube tree holes. The bamboo tubes and tree holes of parks, schools, and garden attractions should be blocked with gray sand, or the bamboo tubes with roots should be used to use the "ten" machete method to make them crack and no longer accumulate water.
(6) For useless stagnant water that cannot be removed, mosquito larvae can be used for treatment.
2. Mosquito prevention and mosquito control
(1) It is recommended to install window screens indoors, use mosquito nets when sleeping, and appropriately use mosquito repellent (including DEET, DEET, etc.) in exposed parts when going out to repel mosquitoes.
(2) When the mosquito density is high, sanitary insecticides can be used appropriately to kill adult mosquitoes. Mosquito control work in public places such as environments and parks outside residential areas can be completed by relevant staff such as property management, and in case of prevention and control problems, third-party professional pest control agencies can also be hired to carry out mosquito control services.
3. Seek medical attention in a timely manner
After being bitten by a mosquito infected with dengue virus, a person will suddenly become ill after an incubation period of 5~8 days. People who have been to dengue-endemic areas should be careful to seek medical attention if they have suspicious symptoms such as fever, rash, joint or muscle pain, so as not to delay the illness or spread it to family members through mosquitoes.
5. Treatment of dengue fever
At present, there is no specific antiviral treatment drug, and the main measures are supportive and symptomatic treatment. The principle of treatment is early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment, and early mosquito prevention and isolation. Early identification and timely treatment of severe cases are the key to reducing the case fatality rate.
Source: Healthy Yuli