Can I get dengue by being around a person with dengue or do I get it only through a mosquitoe bite? Yes, it is both communicable (by definition) and Quarantinable (by Presidential order).
Communicable diseases are transmissible by direct or indirect (vector- mosquito) means by definition.
Compare the definitions of communicable vs contagious below.
Yes, Dengue is not only Communicable but a Quarantinable Communicable disease as a "Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, South American" by Executive Order April 4, 2003.
Yes, You can "get dengue by being around a person with dengue" if the vector is present to bite the person infected then bite you.
Vectors do exist in CONUS for transmission but outbreaks are low and sporadic to date. Federal Quarantine by the CDC/USPHS is not currently being used but can be if needed.
Part of the standard medical treatment of patients with Dengue is place them in a room with screens or under a mosquito net to prevent vectors from spreading the disease from the patient to others.
Global warming with wider spread of the vectors across the US mainland may affect distribution of Dengue DF/Hemorrhagic Dengue HDF in the future.
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Medical Dictionary
One entry found for communicable disease.
Main Entry: communicable disease
Function: noun
: an infectious disease transmissible (as from person to person) by direct contact with an affected individual or the individual's discharges or by indirect means (as by a vector) -- compare CONTAGIOUS DISEASE
Medical Dictionary
One entry found for contagious disease.
Main Entry: contagious disease
Function: noun
: an infectious disease communicable by contact with one who has it, with a bodily discharge of such a patient, or with an object touched by such a patient or by bodily discharges -- compare COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
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EXECUTIVE ORDER 13295: REVISED LIST OF QUARANTINABLE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
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Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 4, 2003
EXECUTIVE ORDER
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REVISED LIST OF QUARANTINABLE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose of specifying certain communicable diseases for regulations providing for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable diseases, the following communicable diseases are hereby specified pursuant to section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act:
(a) Cholera; Diphtheria; infectious Tuberculosis; Plague; Smallpox; Yellow Fever; and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (Lassa, Marburg, Ebola, Crimean-Congo, South American, and others not yet isolated or named).
(b) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which is a disease associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, is transmitted from person to person predominantly by the aerosolized or droplet route, and, if spread in the population, would have severe public health consequences.
Sec. 2. The Secretary, in the Secretary's discretion, shall determine whether a particular condition constitutes a communicable disease of the type specified in section 1 of this order.
Sec. 3. The functions of the President under sections 362 and 364(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 265 and 267(a)) are assigned to the Secretary.
Sec. 4. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit enforceable at law or equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
Sec. 5. Executive Order 12452 of December 22, 1983, is hereby revoked.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 4, 2003.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/executive...
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Increasing international travel, trafficking in wildlife, political instability, and terrorism have made emerging infectious diseases a global concern. Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) warrant specific emphasis because of their high rates of illness and death, and the potential for rapid dissemination by human-to-human transmission. The term "viral hemorrhagic fever" characterizes a severe multisystem syndrome associated with fever, shock, and bleeding diathesis caused by infection with any of several RNA viruses, including Ebola virus and Marburg virus (MARV) (family Filoviridae); Lassa virus (LASV) and the South American hemorrhagic fever viruses Guanarito virus, Jun铆n virus, Machupo virus, and Sabi谩 virus (Arenaviridae); Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), and hantaviruses (Bunyaviridae); and Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV), Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus, yellow fever virus (YFV), and dengue viruses (Flaviviridae) (1,2).
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no04/...
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Dengue (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus. Infection with one of these serotypes provides immunity to only that serotype for life, so persons living in a dengue-endemic area can have more than one dengue infection during their lifetime. DF and DHF are primarily diseases of tropical and sub tropical areas, and the four different dengue serotypes are maintained in a cycle that involves humans and the Aedes mosquito. However, Aedes aegypti, a domestic, day-biting mosquito that prefers to feed on humans, is the most common Aedes species. Infections produce a spectrum of clinical illness ranging from a nonspecific viral syndrome to severe and fatal hemorrhagic disease. Important risk factors for DHF include the strain of the infecting virus, as well as the age, and especially the prior dengue infection history of the patient. (2)
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Also in 1981, a new strain of DEN-2 from Southeast Asia caused the first major DHF epidemic in the Americas (Cuba). This strain has spread rapidly throughout the region and has caused outbreaks of DHF in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, and Puerto Rico. By 2003, 24 countries in the American region had reported confirmed DHF cases (Figure 2), and DHF is now endemic in many of these countries. (2)
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There is a small risk for dengue outbreaks in the continental United States. Two competent mosquito vectors, Ae. aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are present and, under certain circumstances, each could transmit dengue viruses. This type of transmission has been detected six times in the last 25 years in south Texas (1980 -2004) and has been associated with dengue epidemics in northern Mexico by Aedes aegypti and in Hawaii (2001-02) due to Ae. albopictus. Moreover, numerous viruses are introduced annually by travelers returning from tropical areas where dengue viruses are endemic. From 1977 to 2004, a total of 3,806 suspected cases of imported dengue were reported in the United States. Although some specimens collected were not adequate for laboratory diagnosis, 864 (23%) cases were confirmed as dengue. Many more cases probably go unreported each year because surveillance in the United States is passive and relies on physicians to recognize the disease, inquire about the patient's travel history, obtain proper diagnostic samples, and report the case. These data suggest that states in southern and southeastern United States, where Ae. aegypti is found, are at risk for dengue transmission and sporadic outbreaks. (2) The documentation was not intended to overload or offend you.
I have lived and worked in medicine in Latin America for years,I have a personal interest in Dengue.
Plus I was surprised to find the Presidential Order. Report It
Patients with dengue can only pass on the infection through mosquitoes or blood products while they are still febrile. Yes you only get it through a mosquito bite. My sister had it when she was just seven, and it was almost too late when we managed to get her to the hospital. She required several of blood transfusions.
It's difficult to know whether you have dengue or not, because the first symptom of dengue is having a high fever. On the first day of fever, the spots that are supposed to be one of the signs do not appear yet. You have high fever for about two or three days, then it will disappear for three or four days, only to come back again. By this time the virus has managed to create damage to your circulatory system.
Other symptoms include nosebleeding, severe stomach ache (even though you've just eaten), and dark stool/feces (due to the blood, they say). Dengue fever is caused by the Chikungunya virus usually transmitted through a mosquito bite. The reason there is not the mosquito bite itself but the virus it carries but of course not all mosquitoes carry the said virus.
Regarding your question, I will say that NO, dengue fever is not commuicable in the sense that someone who have dengue can't transmit the disease through airborne or just being around the person. The virus has to make a way to get to your bloodstream and usually this is through mosquito bite. So when a mosquito bite a person who has dengue and he bites you after, the there's a big chance that you will have dengue too.
That is why a dengue person is being isolated from the general public as he could be a source of infectiuon especially if there are many mosquitoes in your area. Isolate does not necessarily mean that you have to quarantine the person. Isolation can mean that he ahs to be separated in a room or he has to use mosquito nets all the time.
Of course other ways of contacting the disease is through blood to blood contact usually by blood transfusion. Person to person contact, NO.. It is transmitted by mosquitoes. If a mosquito bites a person infected with dengue, and then bites another person, then dengue is transmitted. |
