Is Dengue Fever Contagious?

Dengue fever is a disease common to tropical areas, including such popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Even Singapore has problems with the disease. The virus that produces dengue is easily contracted and produces a short bout with fever and illness so severe that it is potentially (although not often) lethal. There is also no vaccine for dengue virus.

Effects

Dengue symptoms include severe headaches and muscle pains (these joint pains associated with dengue have given it the nickname "breakbone" fever), red skin rashes and high fever. Abdominal problems can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Mild cases are frequently misdiagnosed as influenza. A case of dengue fever typically lasts for a week, punctuated by a spike in fever toward the end.

Considerations

Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus, and only carried by day-feeding mosquito breed Aedes aegypti. This mosquito also transmits yellow fever. It is not contagious from person-to-person.

Geography

Dengue fever is found in tropical countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil, Guyana, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Venezuela and Vietnam. It is found in places where malaria is also common, but unlike malaria can be found just as often in urban as in rural areas.

Prevention/Solution

One of the worst things about dengue is not the fear of contagion (there is none), but that there is no vaccine available. Preventive measures all revolve around mosquito control. On a health policy level, education about mosquito breeding and insecticide use are common dengue prevention measures. On a personal level, the use of insect repellent and mosquito netting, to prevent bites and therefore transmission, are also effective in reducing the odds of infection.

Time Frame

The typical bout with dengue lasts for a week, being punctuated by a spike in fever toward the end.