Virus Greek dies from dengue fever

First fatality in Greece: Dengue fever continues to spread

08/09/2012

An 84-year-old Greek died of dengue fever with high probability. The infectious disease had been detected in a first blood test of the man. As early as mid-August, the Center for Travel Medicine (CRM) in Dusseldorf warned holidaymakers in Australia, Thailand and Brazil of the dengue fever that is spreading rapidly in these countries. Greece not affected before. The main transmitter of the disease is the Asian tiger mosquito.

Clear evidence of dengue fever is no longer possible
„Although this is the first suspected case of viral infection to date, the Greek authorities are taking the possible recurrence of the disease in the country very seriously“, explains Dr. Tomas Jelinek, Scientific Director of CRM. The background to this is the devastating Dengue epidemic that raged in Greece in 1927-28, in which about one million people became infected and around 1,000 were killed. Since local extirpation of the transmitter mosquito, no further deaths have occurred in Greece.

The 84-year-old man succumbed to the infectious disease on 30 August. How the Greek got infected with the virus, is not yet clear. He is said to have lingered and infected in the region of the western Greek city of Agrinion on the Ionian Sea. „He had all the symptoms. In addition, the laboratory tests of the first blood sample showed that it was dengue fever“, said Athanasios Tsagris from the Greek Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO).

For a clear diagnosis, the detection of the virus in a second blood sample of the man would be necessary. So far it concerns a so-called „probable case“, so the international term for this type of cases, reports Tsagris, who is also a professor of microbiology at the University of Athens. „To put it another way, as in the case of doping control, the first control has been positively evaluated. Because the man has died, you can not test the second blood sample.“

Dengue fever is often introduced by vacationers
Dengue fever is one of the infectious diseases and is caused by the dengue virus, which is transmitted in tropical and subtropical areas, especially by the Asian tiger mosquito, a mosquito species. The yellow fever mosquito can also transmit dengue. Due to the global warming and the increasing globalization Experts expect the further spreading of its transmitter and thus also the illness. The CRM sees as cause for the increasing spreading, „that the highly adaptable carrier mosquito enters and settles in more and more countries through global trade and tourism.“ Dengue is the fastest-spreading and mosquito-borne viral infectious disease worldwide. Neither a vaccine nor a successful antiviral therapy for the disease has yet been developed.

Signs of dengue fever include high fever after infection, and flu-like symptoms such as joint and limb pain. In rare cases of severe disease, internal bleeding, the so-called dengue shock syndrome (DSS) and even the death of the patient may occur. However, dengue fever often remains undetected due to its nonspecific symptoms.

In Germany, cases of dengue fever occur again and again. In general, the virus is considered by travelers „unwanted souvenir“ imported from long-distance travel. In 2010, cases also occurred in southern France and Croatia. The CRM strongly advises travelers in areas where dengue occurs to protect themselves against mosquito bites. „Mosquito repellents for application to the skin should contain the active substance DEET (diethyl-m-toluamide) in a concentration of more than 30 percent. Since the tiger mosquito is active mainly during the day, travelers should also resort to light and closed clothing“, It says in a press release of the CRM.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue fever is now one of the most dangerous infectious diseases, affecting 50 to 100 million people worldwide each year. In about 2.5 percent of cases, the disease ends fatally. (Ag)

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Picture credits: Dr. med. Karl Herrmann