• Question: what does dengue do what causes

    Asked by anon-266968 to Victoria on 6 Nov 2020. This question was also asked by anon-266958.
    • Photo: Victoria Cox

      Victoria Cox answered on 6 Nov 2020: last edited 6 Nov 2020 12:20 pm

      Hi there, it was nice to talk to you in yesterday’s chat session. Dengue virus is a virus carried by mosquitoes. We don’t have it here in the UK but it is common in South America and Asia. You get the virus when an infected mosquito bites you. It causes a bad fever. Normally the person is fine but sometimes they need to go to hospital to be treated.

Comments

  • Photo: Romain

    Romain commented on :

    Dengue is the disease that is caused by the dengue virus. The virus lives happily in specific types of mosquitoes in South America, South Asia mainly. The virus does not cause problems to the mosquito in general so many of these mosquitoes have the virus but do not feel it. It’s a problem for humans because those mosquitoes can bite humans and transmit the virus at the same time. And in humans, it causes a disease unfortunately. Although there are vaccines, it’s not available to everyone and, as for every vaccine, it does not work for everyone 100% of the time.

    I work with viruses but not with Dengue virus, so I am not gonna lie to you: I have had a quick look at Wikipedia before answering, just to make sure.