Dengue has been on the rise worldwide in recent decades, registering an eight-fold increase between 2000 and 2022, and more than half the world's population is at risk, according to the World Health Organization. That figure is only expected to increase.
A number of countries have seen a dramatic rise in dengue fever in 2023. Experts worry the situation could get out of control.
Bangladesh saw over 1000 people die of dengue this year, four times that of last year. The disease has spread to other areas outside of Dhaka as well. There are over 2 lakh cases of dengue in bangladesh this year.
In late September, both the Bangladeshi authorities and doctors in Sudan warned that hundreds had died and that health services were strained. Several other nations were on alert as well, including Argentina, Bolivia, Jamaica, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN PERU OVERWHELMED
The outbreak in Peru mirrors what is happening in several other nations. Through mid-September, there were more than 250,000 cases and 419 deaths in Peru this year, compared to 77 deaths during the previous outbreak in 2017.
As many as 90% of cases are mild or asymptomatic and can be handled at local health centres, according to Requena. But because of the poor coordination in Peru’s healthcare system, too many people sought care at hospitals, overloading facilities that should have been concentrating on high-risk or severe cases. This led to shortages of basic medication like rehydration salts and paracetamol.
INDIA IS A HOT-SPOT FOR DENGUE
Delhi had only a few hundred cases till September this year, but an estimated 33 million clinically apparent dengue cases occur in India each year, contributing to a third of the total global dengue burden.
National data on dengue collected by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme in India estimate a smaller number of cases, in part because of the lack of a systematic national surveillance system.
In India, as in many areas of the world, advancement in the field of dengue control has been impeded by a lack of financial and human resources, poor availability of point-of-care diagnostics, and ineffective mosquito control methods.
NO TREATMENT FOR DENGUE YET
In 2019, dengue was identified by WHO as one of the four main infections threatening global health.
The mortality rate can be 4% in dengue hemorrhagic fever. It has been compared to covid-19 in terms of its impact, and some of the symptoms and disease progression can have commonalities.
Most people with dengue have mild or no symptoms and will get better in 1–2 weeks. Most cases of dengue fever can be treated at home with pain medicine. Preventing mosquito bites is the best way to avoid getting dengue.
There is no specific treatment for dengue. The focus is on treating pain symptoms. Paracetamol is often used to control pain.
Rarely, dengue can be severe and lead to death. Severe dengue symptoms often come after the fever has gone away:
- severe abdominal pain
- persistent vomiting
- rapid breathing
- bleeding gums or nose
- fatigue
- restlessness
- blood in vomit or stool
- being very thirsty
- pale and cold skin
- feeling weak.
People with these severe symptoms should get care right away. Individuals who are infected for the second time are at greater risk of severe dengue.
After recovery, people who have had dengue may feel tired for several weeks.
PAPAYA LEAF JUICE SHOWN TO INCREASE PLATELETS
Studies in several countries have shown that papaya leaf juice helps raise platelets rapidly. Falling platelet count is one of the markers of worsening dengue cases.
"Clinical trials by the Institute for Medical Research on use of papaya leaf in dengue patients (both normal dengue and hemorrhagic dengue show that by taking a dosage of 30ml (two tablespoons) of juice from mature papaya leaves every day, platelet counts increase after three days."
Another study reported that a total of 229 patients were recruited (111 and 117 patients were from the interventional and control group respectively) whereby the experimental subject were given fresh juice from 50 grams of C. papaya leaves once daily, 15 minute after breakfast for 3 consecutive days. The findings showed a significant increase in platelet count in the intervention group after 40 hours and 48 hours of treatment.
Three human studies that included several hundred people with dengue found that papaya leaf extract significantly increased blood platelet levels.
Administration of papaya leaf extract (1.1 g) to total five hundred patients suffering from thrombocytopenia three times daily for five days resulted in a significant increase in counts of platelets.
Another study found that giving papaya leaf juice improved platelet counts of five dengue patients in just 24 hours.
A large number of studies have found similar beneficial impact from giving papaya leaf extract to dengue patients.
Supplements containing New Zealand grown papaya leaf extract will soon be produced in Malaysia as a treatment for dengue fever and age-related illnesses like Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
"In the early stages of getting the dengue virus, you take the extract and it should increase the platelet count and within 24 hours you will get an effect and that will stop the virus getting worse and hopefully you will get better in about three days."
PAPAYA LEAF EXTRACT BENEFICIAL FOR OTHER CONDITIONS AS WELL
Abnormally low platelet count can occur not just in dengue, but also in malaria, leukemia, liver complications, hepatitis, and even covid-19.
Studies in mice with diabetes have found papaya leaf extract to have potent antioxidant and blood-sugar-lowering effects.
One study found that papaya leaf extract significantly reduced inflammation and swelling in the paws of rats with arthritis.
Papaya leaf extract has demonstrated a powerful ability to inhibit the growth of prostate and breast cancer cells in test-tube studies.
In one of the patents filed, it was declared that proliferation of cancer cells reduced while health improvement was noted when people having cancer (lung, stomach, colon, pancreatic, liver, neuroblastoma, ovarian, breast, solid, and blood cancer) were treated with brewed extract of papaya leaf.
Papaya leaf juice helps to increase white blood cells and platelets, normalizes clotting and also helps to repair the liver.
A 2014 animal study found that papaya leaf had no toxic effects even at very large doses, and human studies have reported very few negative side effects.
Papaya seeds have an antibacterial property which helps to play affective role against infections of E.coli Salmonella and Staphylococcus.
Papaya seeds help to protect kidney from toxins and also detoxify the liver.
Folic acid in papaya fruit helps to avoid heart attack or stroke.
THE CHALLENGING BATTLE AGAINST DENGUE
Dengue receives less attention and less funding than malaria, which historically has killed 10 times more people in an average year. But that situation could be changing.
As temperatures rise, the Anopheles mosquitoes that cause malaria – and are less tolerant of high temperatures – are likely to decline. The Aedes species responsible for dengue will spread.
Mosquito-control programmes that treat potential breeding sites with larvicide generally focus on household water that residents keep in containers. But studies have found that problem areas at this breeding stage are more likely to be outdoors – in discarded items such as old tyres, in flower pots, or in other places where rainwater collects and which often go untreated.
When dengue cases spike, government health workers often go house to house to fumigate indoors and outdoors, but experts say those later response efforts are often unproductive.
Once they breed, Aedes mosquitoes generally live indoors, so spraying outdoors is ineffective, and doing it on indoor walls often misses the insects, which tend to settle on clothing.
Spraying targeted places, where the mosquitoes do in fact settle, would be more effective.
Spatial repellents — chemically impregnated squares of cloth the size of a sheet of printing paper that can be hung in homes — appear to be an effective alternative to spraying.
