Dengue Fever back in Greece, man dies by autochthonous infection. New malaria- dengue combo Alert in India

Greek Man’s Death in Greece prompts  dengue scare in the country, hit also by West Nile virus and malaria,  while a new malaria-dengue combo sets India on the Alert

An 80 year old man from Agrinio , Western Greece, died in hospital on August 30, after contracting fever , which seems the first endemic infection in the country since 1920. The Greek Center of Disease Control has already set his family under dengue infection control testing , as also does to other villagers who undergo Blood tests to check for a possible endemic source in Greece

Dengue fever is spread particularly by the Asian tiger mosquito which has increasingly been seen in Europe. but  is also considered the main carrier of West Nile Virus, which emerged in Greece since 2010 , and since then, hundreds of infections, and also deaths,  have been reported in Greece.

Although health officials believe the elderly man in western Greece had contracted dengue fever, they are describing it as a probable rather than a definite infection, because of the complications of the case.

There was evidence of West Nile Virus in his blood when he died in hospital in Patras, Greek  CDC specialists report,  but the dengue fever findings were stronger.

He also had an infection and low platelets (thrombocytopenia) –, both of them, symptoms of the dengue viral disease.

“We are dealing with a disease we haven’t seen for several decades,” said Dr Sotirios Tsiodras of the Greek Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It might be an isolated case but we want to make sure there are no further cases. We need to take it very seriously,” he said.

As well as blood tests, mosquito traps have been set up in Agrinio as part of an entomological investigation.

 

On the same moment , In India, Mumbai, city doctors see a dangerous trend in vector-borne diseases in the city with people coming with both dengue and malaria infection. Though the number of such cases is not high, doctors say that it has now become important to check for both the diseases if there is fever to avoid complications and death. Talking about severity of dengue, doctors say that it is affecting major organs this time and therefore people shouldn’t neglect fever.

People getting dengue, malaria together
Dr Khusrav Bajan, intensivist at PD Hinduja Hospital, said: “There is one per cent chances for a dengue patient to get malaria and vice-versa. This year, surprisingly, we are seeing people infected with both these diseases. The numbers are few but this is something we have not seen earlier.”