WHO alert for dengue fever: cases in Austria

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Transmitted by mosquito bites, the life-threatening dengue fever continues to spread. The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned that cases are increasing rapidly, especially this year.
By the end of April alone, 7.6 million cases had already been reported in 90 countries. 3.4 million of these have been confirmed. In more than 16,000 cases, people have become seriously ill, and 3,000 have died. This was reported by the WHO in Geneva on Thursday. In 2023, 4.5 million cases of the virus will have been reported.

While most cases continue to be registered in South America, with Brazil in the lead – there are also more and more infections with the dangerous virus in Austria. “In 2023, 171 cases were reported in Austria. In the first quarter of 2024, 65 cases,” confirmed the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) in response to a question on ‘Heute.’
So far, however, dengue virus infections have only been diagnosed in travelers returning from endemic areas.

The Brazilian dengue vector, the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, is not yet native to Europe. However, the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which can also transmit the dengue virus, has spread in large parts of Europe, particularly in the south, according to AGES.

“There have already been local dengue cases in France, Italy and other European countries where populations of the Asian tiger mosquito are already established.” In 2023, there were 80 cases in Italy.

Typical symptoms of an infection are fever, rash, headache, and muscle, limb, bone, or joint pain. In around one to five percent of cases, the course is severe, with internal bleeding, organ damage, and, in the worst case, a fatal outcome.