DENGUE & EBOLA

Dengue fever and Ebola virus disease are two major epidemics that are  threatening millions of people in the world today with no effective remedies available to treat the patients. Dengue fever, the fastest growing tropical illness, currently affects at least 100 million people, according to the World Health Organization, although many doctors believe that because the disease is often misdiagnosed, the actual number of people affected could be three times more than what is estimated. Though most people survive the excruciatingly painful disease, more than 20,000 people do die from the disease every year with children the most affected. Dengue virus can cause flu-like symptoms, as well as bleeding gums, vomiting and severe abdominal pain.

The disease is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with a dengue virus. The mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person with dengue virus in their blood. It can’t be spread directly from one person to another person. The Ebola virus disease, started in Guinea,  has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa.

The ongoing epidemic is the most widespread in history and has caused significant mortality, with a reported fatality rate of 71%.  As of November 2014, the WHO and the governments of the affected countries have reported a total of 14,098 suspected cases and 5,489 deaths, though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak with true figures numbering three times as many cases as have been reported. The assistant director-general of the WHO warned in mid-October that there could be as many as 10,000 new EVD cases per week by December 2014. Almost all of the cases have occurred in the three initial countries.