Dengue fever: What is it and why is it spreading?
From India to Europe, warmer temperatures allow disease-carrying mosquitos to thrive.
The World Health Organization has warned that mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever are spreading to new regions. One reason is that warmer temperatures are allowing disease-carrying mosquitos to push into new areas. And wetter monsoons are giving them more time to reproduce in countries like India.
According to the WHO, the number of reported cases around the world has jumped from around 500,000 in the year 2000, to 4.2 million in 2022. It’s now found in around 130 countries.
So what is dengue fever? And should we be worried about it? The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s global health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar gives us an overview of the symptoms and discusses what treatments are available. Zain Hasan, a doctor in Los Angeles, explains just how painful the symptoms can be in severe cases.
Makuochi Okafor, a reporter at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s Lagos bureau, looks at how officials are responding to an outbreak in Burkina Faso. And Pramila Krishnan, a reporter from Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Tamil, tells us how India is coping with dengue through a technique called fogging. She also describes efforts by Indian scientists to develop a vaccine.
Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Alex Rhodes
Producers: William Lee Adams and Benita Barden
Editor: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks
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What in the World
Helping you make sense of what’s happening in your world.