#202 CDC Health Alert Dengue Virus Risks: Prevention and Impact

 Spring and summer usher in mosquito season, bringing an increased risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Recently, the CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) issued a warning about Dengue virus in the U.S. The Divas delve into its transmission, symptoms, and ways to prevent exposure. 

Resources:

• CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Ongoing Risk of Dengue Virus Infections  https://www.cdc.gov/han/2025/han00523.html
• CDC - About Dengue  https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/
• CDC - Travelers' Health  https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
• American Medical Association (AMA) How to Stay Healthy when Traveling   https://bit.ly/43VwNhi

                                                 https://www.thecompliancedivas.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome. I'm Leslie Canum. I'm Mary Gavoni.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Juan. And together we are the Compliance Divas.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. My name is Leslie Canham and I'm your moderator for today's podcast on the ongoing risk of dengue virus infections and updated treat testing recommendations in the United States. Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. I'm Leslie Canham and I'll be your moderator for today's podcast as a special podcast on the ongoing risk of dengue virus infections. As the compliance divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating regulatory compliance to keep you on course. We welcome you to subscribe to the compliance divas podcast for your favorite podcast app or on our website at the compliancedivas.com. And as a reminder, the resources that we mentioned during our podcast can be found in the show notes of the podcast. We also welcome your questions, send your questions to support at the compliancedivas.com. On March 18th, we had an announcement called an H A N or Han announcement that stands for Help Alert Network from Centers for Disease Control. The issued network announcement was to provide us additional information on something called dengue virus. Now dengue virus transmissions have been increasing in the United States. I personally had a cousin who was actually lived in a tropical area, and she got infected with dengue and shared with me how uncomfortable that she got what was called dengue fever and how uncomfortable she was with that uh sickness. So at the complaints divas, we thought it would be a good idea to bring information to our listeners on dengue virus as we start to roll into spring and summer and the risk of infections from mosquito type of transmissions. I'd like to start out first with asking our diva, Mary, to explain to us what dengue is and what the four types are, as well as the symptoms. Mary?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Thanks, Leslie. As you mentioned, dengue is a viral disease and it is commonly referred to as dengue fever. And it is caused by any one of four viral types, one, two, three, and four, called dengue one, dengue two, etc. And it is a vector-borne virus because it is transmitted, as you all will talk about in a little bit, by mosquitoes. So symptoms of dengue or dengue fever, as we commonly refer to it as, include aches and pains, particularly eye pain, which could perhaps be mistaken for maybe a migraine headache, headache behind the eyes, muscle pain, joint pain, pain in the bones, nausea, vomiting, and a rash, along with a fever. And so it could be mistaken for something else. It could be mistaken for perhaps a norovirus or an influenza or any of those types of things. So if you live in an area where you have exposure to mosquitoes, and you know you have been bitten by a mosquito, and your symptoms will start typically if you've been infected within two weeks after that mosquito bite, and they usually will last about two to seven days. Most people recover in about a week, but it also can be fatal with very, very serious symptoms. So along with tick-borne diseases and all of those other insect-borne diseases, we need to be concerned about dengue.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Thanks, Mary. Linda, can you give us a little bit more information about the areas that are at risk of dengue? And maybe just a little bit more of the facts about the spread.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Sure, Leslie. Like many others that may be listening to our podcast, until that Health Alert Network came out from the CDC, I was totally unfamiliar with the risk, and this was a growing issue. But I've been reading more about it, I've learned that almost half of the world's population, which is about four billion people, live in areas with the risk of dengue. And also anyone who lives or travels to those areas are at risk of contracting dengue, as we know from travel. So where do these areas include? It's the Americas, it's Africa, it's Middle East, it's Asia and the Pacific Islands. So it's areas that we have, like you mentioned, right? Mosquitoes. We have lots of mosquitoes here in Florida. It's one of the concerns that we have. So it's amazing that that many individuals can be susceptible or live in a region where they could contract this virus. And who's mostly at risk, as you might suspect, it's pregnant women. So if any pregnant women who were infected with the virus could pass this virus on to the baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth, and it has harmful effects. It can cause low birth weight, premature birth, and even death. So it's a very serious uh virus, Leslie. The dengue virus has been found in breast milk. It can, but it's rare, spread in laboratories and healthcare settings where there's exposure of the lab workers to, say, blood transfusions, organ transplant, needle stick injuries. And those are some other areas that where it can be transmitted. And then there's some evidence that suggests that dengue can also be spread through sexual contact. So there's they're still developing and learning more about this virus, but those are the main ways, Leslie, that someone can contract it through mosquito bites and those areas of the world. If you're pregnant and other routes, include if you're working sort of in a high-risk setting, such as a lab or even a healthcare setting like in dentistry. If a patient comes in and they're undiagnosed and we have a needle stick on through from that patient care episode, then healthcare workers can be at risk too, including dental professionals, Leslie.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

You know, Linda, that just brings to mind that we should be always alert that it's not just hepatitis or HIV that we're worried about when it comes to needle sticks and blood-borne pathogen exposures. You know, it I never thought about viruses such as dengue being something. I do remember that uh my dad, who is a dentist, his hygienist, got poked with an instrument and she ended up getting a staph infection on her finger. It was from the staph bacteria on her own skin. But so it helps to have us keep our mind open when it comes to making sure we're checking all the boxes when it comes to needle sticks.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

And so, Leslie, to the to your point, you know, many dental professionals think it won't happen to me. It's not, you know, I'm not going to contract this, I'm not going to wear the PPE, or I don't like to have utility gloves, I don't haven't gotten stuck so far. You know, so I think that's we need to flip that coin and think about taking better care of ourselves these days. Very important.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

That absolutely is important, Linda. Thank you for that. Olivia, can you give us some information about prevention and perhaps treatment and even if vaccinations are available? Because I've heard some pretty scary symptoms and some pretty scary results as a result of being infected with dengue. Help us out here.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Well, Leslie, it's interesting that there is only one vaccine, although there are others that's approved by the FDA in the United States. However, CDC indicates that that vaccine is only currently available in Puerto Rico, where I would imagine there's greater risk. So if we're concerned about this infection, then we have to look at ways to avoid getting mosquito bites. So obviously, insect repellent is important. I know that, like for example, I ride my mountain bike in spring and summer along the river, and we fight the mosquitoes and the bugs and everything near the water. And I hate to put insect repellent on because I don't like anything that's not natural, organic. But on the other hand, I'm more concerned about getting an infection from one of these bites. So you have to weigh it out. And you may want to even look at something that's natural, such as oil of lemon, eucalyptus. That might be something that's helpful. Some of the natural remedies in addition to repellents that have the active ingredients to repel insects. Also, wearing protective clothing such as long sleeves. I just ordered some golf shirts. I'm not a golfer, but I ordered some really lightweight golf shirts that are breathable so that I can just wear a long sleeve that's more protective of my skin. If you're outside a lot, maybe in those outdoor patio areas, consider installing some mosquito nets. I know that's quite popular where in the areas where Linda lives in Florida, especially a lot of those people's pools are uh glassed in even. Also, avoid leaving the windows open and rely on air conditioning instead. And look for areas where there's standing water, such as a pet bowl or bird baths. That could just be a haven for mosquitoes to lay eggs, or you know, anywhere there's standing water, you know, what can you do to prevent that and get it to drain? Also, support local efforts for fogging and spraying. The municipalities probably have some kind of plan in place. So if the population of mosquitoes are high, they're going to implement those efforts to spray and fog. And so we want to be supportive of those efforts to prevent this transmission of infection. So, you know, if vaccine is not an option, then you want to look at ways that we can prevent it and be serious about it. Like when I'm riding my bike, I have a little basket on my bike and I keep the insect repellent. I've literally had to stop my bike and spray all over because we were getting attacked by bugs. So unfortunately, we just have to roll with it and deal with it. So if we love the outdoors, and I know you do too, Leslie, you're out on that horse, you have to take the prevention methods to protect yourself.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

That's right, Olivia. And I was just thinking about that over the weekend. I was at my first big spring event outside, and I thought, oh boy, I didn't bring any mosquito repellent, I'm going to get bombarded. I dodged a bullet there because there wasn't a lot of mosquitoes. But you know, let's say that we go through all the uh possibilities of prevention and we are protecting ourselves. So, Olivia, it was all great preventative measures, but in the event that one does become infected with dengue, of course, you would likely have been diagnosed. So I'm sure your healthcare provider would have provided you with the steps for treatment. But uh according to CDC, there's no specific medicines to treat dengue. It's just a matter of resting as much as possible, taking acetopenaphen to control fever and relieve pain, drinking plenty of fluids and staying hydrated. And of course, everyone should know that if you start to develop any symptoms of a fever or symptoms of dengue that were mentioned earlier in our podcast, please contact your healthcare provider and tell him or her about that, especially if you travel. Because now we're getting into the time of year where travel, the nice fun places and maybe some tropical places is on our agenda. We want to make sure that we understand that we may be exposed somewhere in another country where we went on a trip or on a cruise or somewhere else and had a possible infection transmission occur.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

And Leslie, it's important for our listeners to know that if they are planning on traveling, especially to a tropical area, the CDC has a travel page on their website where you can actually click on a map or put in the location where you are traveling to, and the CDC will make recommendations for you what infectious diseases to be aware of, and or if you need any vaccinations before you go. And we also will have in the show notes a great resource from the American Medical Association on what to know before you travel.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

I want to just recap a couple of things that we went over earlier. First, these HAN network advises the general public when there is something for us to take note about when it's an infection or other type of condition that we should be concerned with. And this alert had come out on March 18th. So this is a new alert. And they're reminding us that dengate does transmit through mosquitoes. It's vector-borne to mosquitoes. And as we go into spring and summer, we're certainly going to be facing a lot of mosquitoes. Olivia mentioned using insect repellent and wearing protected clothing, keeping your property dry, like dog dishes of water or bird bats or other standing water. If you have maybe some containers outside your house where they hold water, turn those over, dump them out, or like empty flower pots or water buckets, things like that. Make sure that you watch the clock because mosquitoes can be flying around at any time, but they are most active from dusk till dawn. And that's where it's especially important to use that insect repellent, whether it's a natural method or whether it's something that you buy off the shelf and be covering yourself up. And make sure that you avoid using scented products. Don't be an attractant or mosquito, having windows closed and you know, maybe even having those nets. Some people live in areas where the mosquitoes are uh biting them all night long and using a mosquito net is a helpful thing, having a fan that you can turn on to circulate the air, and just to avoid scratching mosquito bites. I know that's one of the hardest, the tallest orders of all, but you don't want to get an infection from any mosquito bite or any other type of insect bite. And as Miriam mentioned earlier, we they talked about ticks, ticks can also carry disease. So please mind yourself out there and remind others to cover up and stay safe. And with that, we'll bring a conclusion to our compliance divis podcast on Dengue. We bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating regulations to keep you on course. Please submit your questions to support it at compliancedevas.com. Look for the resources on our show notes on the podcast app of your choice, and leave us a review if you would. That's it for today.