A 3D approach to be safe from Dengue

It is already proven by the fact that it is now considered endemic in more than 100 countries, many of which had no previous history of the disease, writes Uttam Ghimire of Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia Centre.

Dengue—a term you’ve likely heard many times in recent years—is a viral disease transmitted by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. This mosquito bites a Dengue-infected human, becomes infected, and transmits it to healthy humans for its remaining life period (typically 3-4 weeks).

In typical cases, Dengue may be asymptomatic or cause mild illness. Still, for patients with a prior history or other chronic diseases, it significantly increases the risk of health complications and, in some cases, death. Unlike flu, where getting the disease improves the human body’s immunity for the next time, the Dengue virus infection provides limited immunity for recurring infections.

With the exacerbation of its drivers and disparities in healthcare and health information access, the incidence of Dengue and associated health complications is thus likely to continue rising. What can we do to contain the increasing cases of Dengue? Given the rising rate of infection, we cannot wait for global climate action to slow down global warming or expect a different population setting. However, we think that with simple 3 Ds of household measures, which we discuss below, the risk and exposure of Dengue can be reduced.