Scoop’s Views

It seems some 55,000 people — fifty-five thousand people — have been diagnosed as having dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal if unrecognized, and is fatal if not properly treated in a timely manner.

Dengue fever, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne virus, has hit the lives of those 55,000 people around Rio de Janeiro in the last four months along, Brazilian authorities told CNN. At least 67 of the victims have died, with more than half of dead younger than 13.

Four types of the dengue virus exist, and all are carried by infected mosquitoes — mainly the Aedes Aegypti mosquito — according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are at least 10 million cases of dengue reported around the world each year, and it cannot be spread from person-to-person.

The bad thing about dengue fever is that there is no vaccine to prevent it, and that the more severe form of the virus “can be fatal if unrecognized and not properly treated,” according to a statement a CDC spokesperson made to CNN. With timely and appropriate treatment, fatalities due to dengue can be less than one percent, the spokesperson CDC added.

Sorry, but if I were planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro, well, anywhere in Brazil, this year, that trip would be cancelled. With 55,000 people so far this year who have contracted the virus, that’s a little too much “excitement” for my life. Maybe I can find a small island resort that I can visit instead, in off-season time, with buxom barmaids serving piña coladas before your glass is empty. Yes, that would be a pleasant trip.

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