Dengue Fever, the viral illness is thankfully not endemic in Australia, this means the virus is not normally present in Australia unless it is brought in by someone infected from another country.

Outbreaks occur in northern Queensland when an infected person arrives from overseas with it in their blood. The dengue mosquito (Aedes aegypti), the only mosquito capable of carrying the virus in Australia bites the infected person, it then becomes infected and passes it on to other people by biting them. This is how a ‘local’ outbreak occurs.

There are around 100 countries in the world where dengue is endemic, meaning dengue is always there. In Brazil in the last year 1.4 million people were affected by the disease.

Many South East Asian countries have large outbreaks, it is often in these countries where people catch dengue and bring it into Australia.

This map (healthmap.org) clearly shows the current level of dengue cases worldwide, it also demonstrates the risk areas globally.

Looking at the map of Australia, we can see in comparison the small risk areas. Areas in parts of north Queensland are identified as likely to get dengue. It is a stark difference however compared to our neighbours in Indonesia.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says dengue is the fastest growing mosquito-borne disease in the world. There are 400 million infections every year. The incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold in the last 50 years, with it becoming endemic in 128 countries during this time.

In December 2015 the first approved vaccine became available. The vaccine called Dengvaxia has been developed for the prevention of all four types of dengue fever.

The vaccine provided by Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s third largest pharmaceutical company based in France, has so far has been successfully approved and registered in Mexico, The Philippines and most recently Brazil. The vaccination is under regulatory review processes in other countries where dengue is a public health priority, which is not the case in Australia.

Newsport spoke with Professor Scott Ritchie from the Centre for Biosecurity in Tropical Infectious Diseases at James Cook University to get some local dengue information.

Prof Ritchie said the total number of people, ‘at risk,’ of dengue in Australia is between 300-400,000. That population covers the Torres Strait, wet tropics down to Port Douglas and Cairns, through to Townsville and the Marlin Coast.

Given the small numbers at risk, he considered the vaccine being made available in Australia was very unlikely. Prof Ritchie identified three groups of people within that number who may benefit from the vaccine. Those who may benefit are, people who have had dengue before, people who travel to dengue endemic areas and overseas workers including the military. However, the vaccine is not licensed in Australia.

With all the recent rainfall Ritchie described this as a ‘big Christmas present for the mosquitos’. The majority of mosquitos around are likely to be salt marsh or bush mosquitos, however the dengue mosquito is around.

Professor Ritchie’s advice and a reminder to locals to protect themselves is:

• check your yard, don't have items that can collect water such as buckets and tyres. Remove them or turn them upside down.
• during the day wear repellents. The dengue mosquito tends to bite during the day. Use repellents that contain Deet or Picardin, these are long lasting and effective, Botanical oils such as eucalyptus are effective but need to be applied every couple of hours.
• use surface sprays in dark areas or shaded areas indoors, mosquitos like dark shaded areas under tables.

Queensland Health is currently recording no dengue outbreaks. An outbreak is recorded when 1 person is infected with dengue who has not travelled to an endemic area. Outbreaks are considered no longer current three months after the the onset date of the last confirmed case.

Signs and symptoms of dengue are outlined by Queensland Health, typical symptoms include:

• sudden onset of fever, extreme tiredness
• intense headache (especially behind the eyes)
• muscle and joint pain (ankles, knees and elbows)
• loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, a metallic taste
• flushed skin on face and neck, fine skin rash as fever subsides
• red rash on arms and legs, itching, peeling of skin and hair loss
• minor bleeding (nose or gums) and heavy menstrual periods

The advise is to see a doctor immediately.