Phoebe: Welcome to Beyond the Data, I'm Dr. Phoebe Thorpe
here to talk about Dengue and Chikungunya,
diseases that are carried by mosquitoes
and with me is Dr. Mark Fischer from Fort Collins, Colorado.
Thank you for joining us Mark.
Mark: Thank you.
Phoebe: The Aedes aegypti mosquito
we heard a lot about today.
It has some different behaviors, like it likes to rest
on cloth and hide in closets.
What are some of the other unusual behaviors it has?
Mark: Well, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
and other similar mosquitoes live in and around the household
where people live and in water sources around the household.
They also tend to bite more during the daytime,
that's their peak biting time and that's a little different
than some of the other mosquitoes that we're used
to having that transmit other viruses here
in the United States.
Phoebe: Okay, and then, we have had some recent cases of Dengue
in our own backyard in the United States.
Can you tell me, what can we do to protect ourselves
and our children from mosquito borne diseases?
Mark: Yes, well Dengue is a problem throughout tropical
areas in the Americas and Africa and Asia,
but we have had some recent cases in some parts
of the United States, Florida and Texas.
People can take some precautions
to prevent exposures to mosquitoes.
They can use mosquito repellents on their skin or sometimes
on clothes and materials if they're out camping.
They can also dump water sources that are around their houses
like flower pots and kiddie pools and in gutters.
Those are the places where mosquitos live and breed.
And, when possible they can also wear long pants and sleeves
to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
Finally, when inside they, if they have it,
they can use air conditioning or have intact screens on windows
and doors to keep the mosquitos outside.
Phoebe: Okay, and another disease we heard
about today is Chikungunya.
That seems to be a disease that not as many people are familiar
with because it's more recently come into the Americas.
What can you tell us about the spread of that disease
and the disease itself?
Mark: So Chikungunya is another virus that's spread
by mosquitoes.
It was first identified in Africa in the 1950s and that's
where the name comes from a local African language.
It caused disease in Africa and parts of Asia for a number
of years and then in the early 2000s started spreading further
to other parts of the world.
It didn't come to of the Americas until 2013
when it was first identified in the Caribbean
and then had spread in 2014 throughout much
of the Americas including a few locally transmitted cases
in Florida and cases among travelers returning
from affected areas in the Caribbean and South America.
And it causes fever and severe joint pains in people
who are infected by the virus.
Phoebe: You know one of things I didn't hear you speak about,
sorry to circle back, but one
of the things I didn't hear you speak is bed nets,
because I'm sure that a lot of people hear mosquitoes
and they think of prevention as bed nets, a way to do that.
Why doesn't that work with the Aedes aegypti mosquito?
Mark: Well, bed nets are a very effective means
of preventing certain mosquitoes, especially ones
that bite at night like the mosquitos that transmit malaria.
There're important ways
of preventing these mosquito borne diseases like Dengue
and Chikungunya but they're less effective because again many
of the exposures to these type
of Aedes mosquitoes occurred during the day when people are
in or around the house.
Phoebe: That makes sense.
And, tell me what is CDC doing to help educate people,
especially healthcare providers about Dengue?
Mark: Ok, so, CDC and our partners
at WHO developed an online training for clinical management
for healthcare providers and that's available to people.
It's a free training that they can get online.
Phoebe: That's up at the CDC website.
Mark: That's right.
Phoebe: Okay, all right.
Thank you very much for joining us Dr. Fischer.
Mark: Thank you.
Phoebe: And thank you for joining us,
and join us next time for Beyond the Data.