What Happens When Someone Gets Dengue Fever?

Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease caused by a virus of the same name, is also referred to as breakbone fever, but that should be the least of your concerns...what you need to worry about is a complete system shutdown.

Most commonly found in tropical regions, dengue puts 40-50% of the global population at risk. With symptoms ranging from fever, rashes, painful joint and muscle aches and vomiting, dengue symptoms can resemble the flu, but it can become life-threatening in a much different way.

Seeker spoke with Dr. Shannon Bennett from the California Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bennett is the curator of microbiology and the chief of science—in addition, she also studies the genetic makeup of dengue viruses.

To understand how dengue spreads, it helps to start with how it gets in.

Enter, the mosquito: specifically a species called Aedes aegypti.

Once the dengue virus gets in through the skin, it will eventually find its way into your lymph nodes and, then, bloodstream. And what is dengue’s primary target? White blood cells.

For those who find themselves sick as a result of dengue fever, sometimes the illness can take a dramatic turn leading to hemorrhagic fever and shock. This happens when your body’s antibodies respond to a second infection of dengue but don’t neutralize the virus the same way they would with the first strain you were exposed to.

Learn more about the disease coined the breakbone fever on this episode of SICK.

#DengueFever #Virus #Disease #SICK #Mosquito #Health #Seeker #Science

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SICK is a new series that looks at how diseases actually work inside our body. We'll be visiting medical centers and talking to top researchers and doctors to uncover the mysteries of viruses, bacteria, fungi and our own immune system. Come back every Tuesday for a new episode and let us know in the comments which diseases you think we should cover next.
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Read More:
A clinical and epidemiological survey of the largest dengue outbreak in Southern Taiwan in 2015

Dengue immunity may be protective against symptomatic Zika, study finds

Mayaro virus: a neglected threat could cause the next worldwide viral epidemic
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[_lonath_]

Experienced 1st Hand, to think that I almost died

[sebastianelytron]

Dengue! This is worse than I thought...

[totoypogi]

Bit by a mosquito while watching this..
They hate this info.

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

I'm telling you guys, we need to eradicate the existence of mosquitoes.

[ronlionheart]

I survived strain 4 dengue....
Was admitted in the ICU for like 2 weeks but survived it😁

[hearttcar]

It feels like dying. Seriously, I had it 5 years ago.

[dezza]

I actually contracted it while living in the Philippines. Was in the hospital getting fluids for 5 days. Was the first foreigner to go into the Davao Private Hospital to not need a blood transfusion when admitted for dengue. My immune system thankfully was strong enough to fight it hard.

[trikwin]

Two years ago i had dengue fever.. it's a near hell experience

[paoloangelino]

My experience with Dengue was that it gave me intense body aches and a high fever that wouldn't go down for a 2 consecutive days. I got admitted to the hospital and they stuck an IV in me. I took me a week to fully recover. My advice is to drink plenty of water and just sleep a lot to help speed up recovery. :)

[runplatypus]

Death by dengue is an ugly sight. I've been witness to some. Bleeding from nose, eyes, ears gums.

[__init__]

I went to Cambodia on a school trip about a year ago and ended up getting dengue fever. It didn’t hit me till I got back but then I was in and out of hospital for about a week. Luckily enough I didn’t have the more serious version that actually kills people but it still felt absolutely awful, had me in bed for most of a few days and took well over a month to fully recover from.

[mandonando]

Having had Dengue at age 6 on vacation in Thailand, I can assure you it’s not a fun thing to go through. I only have a few flashes of memory from the time, since I was so incredibly out of it due to the high fever. Thankful that I got healthy.

[romeoespina]

I had it 2 times already and was hospitalized. Its like having flu but with rashes all over your body. Whats scary was the bleeding risks due to low platelets and if i get it again, the more severe my symptoms can be.

[khing]

Caught it back in 2005. I wasn't the only one, my whole family caught it. Within a week, my entire family was admitted into the same hospital. It was an outbreak in our neighborhood. Several of my neighbors had it too.

[JulAlxAU]

I almost died of this and when I finally recovered after loosing 15kg within one month, I wrestled with chronic fatigue for more than a year. And, here we are, worried of Covid! Give Dengue to elderlies and show me one who survives! Covid is like butter in front of Dengue!

[AngryKittens]

I've had a cousin die of it in the Philippines. The worst part about Dengue is that it doesn't seem serious at first. Just high fever and some aches that people usually mistake for flu. Especially since most of the times, it isn't fatal. But in the cases where it becomes fatal, it becomes fatal at the very end, when it seems like the fever is lifting. And it progresses so quickly (less than 24 hours), it's scary. My cousin seemed like he was recovering, then he started bleeding from the nose then went comatose quickly. He died a few hours later. What's infuriating about that was the doctor misdiagnosed him because they didn't conduct a blood test and he wasn't showing the classic rashes symptom.

[duchi]

*What HApens When Someone Gets Dengue Fever:*
1. _Why am I still here...just to suffer.._

[aeren]

I lost my sister on 22nd April, 2020. because of dengue hemorrhegic fever. it was her 2nd time bitten by an Aedes mosquito. we thought it was the flu. she had fever for 2 days that got worse on the 3rd day. She couldnt get off the bed had immense pain in her body and feet were cold but body had high fever all over. She went into shock, couldn't even form words, had several seizures, foaming from her mouth and was having trouble breathing. Hospitals wouldn't treat her thinking she was affected by the covid19. they didnot even bother test her. We could do nothing. She needed to be treated in the ICU.
Pls don't take fevers and body aches lightly. Don't wait for a few days for the fever to go down. My sister died after just 3 days of fever.

Sorry if i made any grammartical mistakes. English isn't my first language.

[juanandetos]

I lived in Venezuela all my life, getting Denge was normal. Everyone acted like 'oh you got Denge? First time huh' and practically no one does nothing unless it gets hemorragic.

[danilotorres]

I had denge when I was a kid, I literaly don't remember the next 2 days I think I spent those in bed knocked out