Dengue fever cases over 50,000 in 2018

By The Thaiger

 

 

Thailand health officials say the country has topped the 50,000 mark with dengue fever cases so far in 2018.

 

According to the Ministry of Health’s Bureau of Epidemiology, a total of 50,079 cases have been reported from the 77 provinces up to August 27. 65 of those cases died from complications related to the disease.

 

The areas where you are most likely to contract dengue include Phuket, Nakorn Pathom, Phichit,  Maehongsorn and Krabi.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/dengue-fever-cases-over-50000-in-2018

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2018-09-03

I hate those pesky, blood sucking vermin.....reminds me of my ex-wife! 

The Dengvaxia® vaccine for dengue has limited efficacy and very expensive.

Approx. 3,000 baht per dose and you need to get three doses of vaccine on Day 0, 6th month and 12th month.

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/blog/travel-medicine-issue/dengue-vaccine-for-travelersforeigners-in-thailand-should-i-get-it.html

Maybe the government can subsidize the cost or negotiate a lower cost for the SECURITY OF THE THAI PEOPLE.

Might be worth a new jet plane or two.

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

The Dengvaxia® vaccine for dengue has limited efficacy and very expensive.

Approx. 3,000 baht per dose and you need to get three doses of vaccine on Day 0, 6th month and 12th month.

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/blog/travel-medicine-issue/dengue-vaccine-for-travelersforeigners-in-thailand-should-i-get-it.html

Maybe the government can subsidize the cost or negotiate a lower cost for the SECURITY OF THE THAI PEOPLE.

Might be worth a new jet plane or two.

Or a Submarine 

4 hours ago, Srikcir said:

The Dengvaxia® vaccine for dengue has limited efficacy and very expensive.

Approx. 3,000 baht per dose and you need to get three doses of vaccine on Day 0, 6th month and 12th month.

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/blog/travel-medicine-issue/dengue-vaccine-for-travelersforeigners-in-thailand-should-i-get-it.html

Maybe the government can subsidize the cost or negotiate a lower cost for the SECURITY OF THE THAI PEOPLE.

Might be worth a new jet plane or two.

A cheap alternative that is easy to make and should proof to be very effective against dengue disease is a drink made of Papaya leaves (lets not tell big pharma or the will patent it!):

 

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614241/

- https://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-leaf-juice-for-dengue-fever

Edited September 3, 20187 yr by wolf81

6 hours ago, wolf81 said:

A cheap alternative that is easy to make and should proof to be very effective against dengue disease is a drink made of Papaya leaves (lets not tell big pharma or the will patent it!):

 

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614241/

- https://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-leaf-juice-for-dengue-fever

I fed that to the wife when she got dengue this year. Not sure if it did anything except make her complain loudly about how bitter it tasted. Her platelet count was fine after a week.

My wifes grandson has just been diagnosed with this fever, he has just been admitted to Rangsit Hospital in Bangkok. Can anyone make head or tail what this says.

 

 

12 hours ago, Srikcir said:

The Dengvaxia® vaccine for dengue has limited efficacy and very expensive. Approx. 3,000 baht per dose and you need to get three doses of vaccine on Day 0, 6th month and 12th month.

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/blog/travel-medicine-issue/dengue-vaccine-for-travelersforeigners-in-thailand-should-i-get-it.html

Maybe the government can subsidize the cost or negotiate a lower cost for the SECURITY OF THE THAI PEOPLE.

Might be worth a new jet plane or two.

 

Please take the time to understand the vaccine. It is not effective in the general population, so  subsidization as you demand is neither cost effective nor a responsible use of limited funds. It is an expensive vaccine to manufacture and hundreds of millions of Euros were spent on its development.

 

The vaccine value is due to it being effective in protecting subjects from a re-occurrence of dengue. However,  the vaccine is not recommended in those with no history of dengue as it could lead to severe dengue, with a greater likelihood of complication including death than in those with no history of infection. This is the caution that now applies. The catch is that we are still 24-48 months away from reliable field tests that can provide conclusive evidence of a prior infection. In plain language, until otherwise cleared,  it is inappropriate to vaccinate until one knows the prior infection history as doing so could kill a subject

 

8 hours ago, wolf81 said:

A cheap alternative that is easy to make and should proof to be very effective against dengue disease is a drink made of Papaya leaves (lets not tell big pharma or the will patent it!):

 

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614241/

- https://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-leaf-juice-for-dengue-fever

 

No. Too bad you did not read the NIH article. It refers to ONE solitary patient in Pakistan, and the insert suggested that  papaya leaves extract might be helpful in relieving symptoms. That's it. The article was the first step in requesting additional funding for some Pakistanis. We do not make health policy based upon  such statements.

What you don't state is that one sees a similar recovery of platelet counts and clotting factors in patients who take  regular medication  or no medication at all.

The claim is not new, and there is ongoing research in Malaysia on the subject. To date, there is no clinical evidence to support the use of the  plant extract.

Although, a modified version, or concentrated  enhanced molecule may be of use.

 

You toss out "big pharma" as if  it is the reason why there isn't an effective treatment. It's always someone else's fault with people like you. How about  understanding that dengue is a difficult disease to treat and to prevent? Any pharma company that can come up with a  treatment or vaccine will do well because there is nothing now. It's no different than balding "cures" or HIV or Cancer treatments. Big Pharma isn't the reason there isn't a solution yet. Rather, the reason is due to the resilience of the dengue virus. We do not have much  going for us to fight a virus because  a virus can adapt and evolve faster than we can create drugs to stop the virus.The road to effective treatment will be though married immunotherapy strategies, something that did not exist when I started out, and that has come about in part through HIV research. The progress  that has been made in the past  five years alone is more than occurred in the previous  fifteen. Yet, that progress could not have happened without the investment  in time of the previous years despite the lacklustre results.

 

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

I fed that to the wife when she got dengue this year. Not sure if it did anything except make her complain loudly about how bitter it tasted. Her platelet count was fine after a week.

A healthy person with a non compromised  immune system will almost always survive. We see  a greater likelihood death in those with underlying chronic disease situations (e.g. heart disease, kidney disease, cancer, HIV etc.), in smokers, and those with weak immune systems (young children and the elderly).

30 minutes ago, vogie said:

My wifes grandson has just been diagnosed with this fever, he has just been admitted to Rangsit Hospital in Bangkok. Can anyone make head or tail what this says.

 

 

That's a receipt for treatment/tests. The numbers are probably the coding used for the internal tracking of procedures and their associated costs. IMO, they followed the appropriate protocols and were verifying if the patient is presenting with Dengue.

 

What you want are the actual lab results and references. Lab results need the reference range for a patient of your grandson's age, and  background (e.g. local population blood characteristics). The reference range should be printed on the   test result summary (because even physicians need the references as a reminder.)  I mention this because I was looking at my reference ranges for Asia vs North America vs. Australia and there is a noticeable variance.  Note too, that an individual dengue blood test is not exclusively reliable in the early stage because it takes time for the  disease to manifest itself and for the antibodies to develop. This means that there are multiple blood assays required over a period of  time. This also addresses false positives that can be caused by previous infections.

 

For reference sake;

 The CRP test is used to help determine if the patient

1. Has an infection and,

2. To differentiate between malaria and dengue, thereby avoiding unnecessary additional testing.

 

C-Reactive protein is a blood marker that appears when the body has inflammation, and is a "red flag" marker for an immediate traumatic event (acute phase marker). If the  CRP assay is greater than 8 mg/L, then it is likely that the patient has malaria and not dengue, so more specific malaria testing is required.

For example, malaria patients can have a CRP at 40 mg/L. It can occur in dengue patients, but is rare. Dengue patients typically have low CRP values.  The use of a CRP check ensures that the patient is started on the  most appropriate therapy

 

The other tests referenced are to verify for antibodies.

Reference Range: Dengue Fever Virus Antibody 

IgG

 IgG 1.64 IV or less: Negative - No significant level of detectable dengue fever virus IgG antibody.

1.65-2.84 IV: Equivocal - Questionable presence of antibodies. 

2.85 IV or greater: Positive - IgG antibody to dengue fever virus detected, which may indicate a current or past infection.

 

IgM

Dengue Fever Virus Antibody, IgM 1.64 IV or less: Negative - No significant level of detectable dengue fever virus

IgM antibody. 1.65-2.84 IV: Equivocal - Questionable presence of antibodies. 

2.85 IV or greater: Positive - IgM antibody to dengue fever virus detected, which may indicate a current or recent infection.

 

Guidance: Mid level results require additional testing at 10-14 days after initial test. IgM antibodies will remain identifiable post infection periods of  twelve (12) months and greater. Additional testing is recommended during that period.

 

These things can get a bit complicated, and dengue pathology isn't my specialty so I need a cheat sheet. On my guidance sheet, it says that the IgM antibody is the first one that develops after exposure to dengue, so it will be the  most likely. In the early stages of the disease, IgG is often non detectable. it increases over time and one sees the levels associated with infection by week two. The cheat sheet has a nifty table;

IgM Antibodies:  Detectable at Day 5 - 80%, Detectable from Day 6 to Day 10 - 93% - 99%, Detectable Day 10 to day 120 - 95%+

 

My takeaway is that the  attending physician can only advise what the probable infection is. Asking for a confirmed diagnosis at this early stage is unreasonable because the lab work can't support an absolute diagnosis.You will know once more time has passed and additional blood work is done.  If you would like a more specific  explanation, discuss the  test results with the attending physician. A good physician has no reservation in  explaining a test result and the impact upon the treatment regimen.

 

Trust this helps.

 

 

 

 

I got it in Koh Samui big time in 1992 really <deleted> me up big time...agony and fevered madness..took a long time to recover..wouldn't wish it on anybody except that Scandinavian anti drug nutter in Jomtien