Dengue fever alarm in Italy. A person residing in the province of Forlì, returning from a holiday abroad, tested positive for Dengue fever. This was reported by the Ausl Romagna. Currently the conditions of the hospitalized patient are not serious.
Dengue fever is a viral disease widely spread in different parts of the world (South America, Africa and Asia) that is transmitted through the pinch of different types of mosquitoes, including the tiger mosquito. There is no possibility of transmission between man and man, but the contagion occurs only between man and animal.
As a precaution, the administration of Gatteo (the municipality of residence of the patient who tested positive), in collaboration with the Hygiene and Public Health Service Forlì-Cesena, has ordered a disinfestation intervention. But what are the risks? Let’s go into detail.
Dengue fever alarm in Italy, first case in the province of Forlì
A person residing in Gatteo in the province of Forlì, returning from a trip abroad, tested positive for Dengue fever. This was reported by the Ausl Romagna. At the moment, the condition of the hospitalized patient is not serious. For preventive purposes, the municipal administration of Gatteo, in collaboration with the Hygiene and Public Health Service Forlì-Cesena, has established a disinfestation within 100 meters from the patient’s home tested positive. The intervention is foreseen by the regional directive. The operations, which began yesterday evening, will be carried out for a total of three nights.
What is Dengue and what are the risks in Italy
Dengue fever is a viral disease that is widely spread in different parts of the world (South America, Africa and Asia) which is transmitted through the pinch of several types of mosquitoes, including the tiger mosquito. There is no possibility of transmission between man and man, but the contagion occurs only between man and animal.
The bone-breaking fever because, already in the early hours, it usually causes one sudden fever, rash and severe pain in the legs and joints.
In an interview with beraking latest news, Andrea Crisantidirector of the Department of Molecular Medicine at the University of Padua, explained: “Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease of the Aedes genus, which is one of the most important problems worldwide. The situation in Italy? In our country, certainly the major vector of Dengue, which is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, does not exist, has never recently been demonstrated in native reproduction. And this is good news. But surely there are other Aedes mosquito species that are invading Italy. This is the case, for example, of Aedes albopictus, the tiger mosquitoes, which have a low ability to transmit Dengue but transmit Chikungunya. So it is a supervisory situation that we must have».
And he concludes: “Italy has also recently had episodes of transmission of tropical diseases such as Chikungunya, of which it has registered several cases. This is an arbovirus that has similar characteristics to Dengue. The way to react, once any cases are identified and the origin should be indigenous, is to disinfect the area promptly. If it is true that in Italy we have never had episodes of endogenous transmission of Dengue, it must be said that in Europe there was a major epidemic in the past years in Madeira, Portugal, which lasted quite a bit, it took 4-5 years to get out».