Dengue Fever

I am recovering from the nasty tropical disease, dengue fever. It is transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito pictured above.

This island is home to a great variety of mosquitoes. There are more than 2,500 species of mosquitoes. 2,449 of them live here. Some are so small you can hardly see them and others are big enough to suck a small dog down to a pelt filled with dry bones; and there are all sizes in between. They seem to be highly specialized when it comes to attacking humans. We have knuckle-suckers, lower-arm-bandits, neck-nibblers, ear-eaters and an odd assortment of tiny finger-web-feeders. But the most common and most fearsome are the ankle-nazis. I believe they are the most intelligent of the lot, because they easily see a person’s hand descending towards them, then fly away, circle, wait for their victim to straighten up and then alight again on the back of the ankle out of sight. I think they go to school to learn this technique. It’s possible to occasionally swat and kill one of the newly trained ankle-nazi undergraduates, but you have to wait until her proboscis is well embedded in your flesh and she is swooning in bloody ecstasy. I'm certain that an ankle-nazi infected me with the dengue fever.

Female mosquitoes are the only ones who drink blood. They need it to lay their eggs. Males are vegetarians and get their nutrients from the nectar of plants. Mosquitoes do not bite, they cannot open their jaw, they sting. First they pierce the skin with a stylet. This may take many tries. Then the chemical called salvia is released to prevent the blood from clotting and also to leave behind a demon itch. The blood is sucked up and she flies away to lay her eggs in still water.

People who sweat a lot exude more carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitoes. I sweat a lot. My bout with dengue fever began with an intense headache coupled with an intermittent, progressive fever. My symptoms were confusing. I suspected an infection, but my glands did not swell and I had no sore throat. My bones and joints gradually began to ache and the pain eventually became intense and joined in with the tortures of the high fever, headache and fatigue. Dengue fever is aptly nicknamed, 'bone-breaking fever.' This went on for almost four days, but as the pains ebbed, I broke out with a rash that covered my entire body. Vomiting and dizziness followed and prompted me to go to the hospital for some answers.

My symptoms were so marked that I was able to track them down on the internet readily and I had already diagnosed myself with dengue fever. Self diagnosis is a fool’s game when serious things are attacking your body. It turns out that the virus was waning by the time I went for medical advice. The blood tests confirmed dengue fever. In any case, the only treatment for it is Tylenol to relieve the headache and fever. You simply have to wait it out.

There are four strains of dengue fever, so I’m one of the lucky ones who only have three more episodes ahead of me. Many of the symptoms are similar to those that accompany malaria, but I experienced no delirium, so I ruled out malaria. (That is; I was told that I didn't appear to be exhibiting much more delirium than when I'm healthy.)

A friend wrote with some advice on keeping mosquitoes away. She claims that spraying likely areas with Listerine (original) will ward off the little suckers. Well maybe it works and maybe it doesn’t, but I’ve been spraying Listerine all over the place and I’m at least happy to know that the next mosquito that sucks on me will have fresh smelling breath.

A mosquito in Romanian amber. May it rest in peace.