There is no treatment for chikungunya, and no vaccine, though again our National Institute of Health is working on that.
- An experimental chikungunya vaccine prompted an immune response in all 25 volunteers in an early-stage clinical trial.
- An effective vaccine could prevent future outbreaks of the disease, which was recently reported in the continental United States.
Dengue
The last and the worst, dengue fever is the mosquito-borne virus that the World Health Organization estimates infects some 100 million people per year around the globe. That's just the active cases; there are estimates that another 294 million are mild or asymptomatic. Yearly there are an estimated 22,000 deaths--usually children. Dengue is a reportable disease in the U.S.
Nicknamed breakbone fever, symptoms include intense joint and muscle pain, high fever, headache, and eye pain. Progressing to dengue hemorrhagic fever if untreated, people can die from shock, as their capillaries start to leak blood into the abdomen and chest cavity.
Mortality rates run 10% to 20% without treatment and about one percent with early detection and treatment.
Locally acquired dengue cropped up in Florida, Texas, and California in 2013. According to PLOS, the Public Library of Science the probability that it is in Arizona and Northern Mexico without being diagnosed is huge.
According to dvi the dengue vaccine initiative more than 2.5 billion people, over 40% of the world's population, are at risk of getting dengue. Latin America and China are working together on the vaccine but--according to what I'm reading--the tricky little virus is not about to be tamed. Researchers in Australia are trying a new strategy, releasing mosquitoes infected with a bacterium that prevents them from transmitting dengue.
Conclusion
So now we have to begin treating mosquitoes like the dangerous little buggers they are. The only defense/prevention we have against these last two diseases at present is mosquito eradication and education. That means local authorities spraying in selected areas and individuals being educated about the steps needed to protect themselves from bites. Use approved insect repellents with deet. No more short sleeves and pants outside in the summer time. (Yeah like that'll happen.) Getting rid of all stagnant water where mosquitoes might breed on your property is equally important.
As always your CDC, NIH, and local health authorities can only do so much and they're doing their jobs very well. But in the end, the basic responsibility for your health is yours alone. Act accordingly.
Content source: Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
National
Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD)
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/disease.html
http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2382&Itemid=3922&lang=en
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