UAE: Report cases of dengue fever immediately, ministry tells doctors

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (Mohap) has called on all government and private health facilities to step up monitoring for the dengue fever virus infection.

According to Al Bayan, the Ministry advised all practising physicians to consider dengue fever as a differential diagnosis for acute fevers.

It also instructed the medical community to consider the fever as a disease that must be reported immediately as per the Communicable Diseases Control Law.

Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, and it has spread rapidly in recent years, according to the authority.

The disease spreads widely in tropical regions, with local variations in the level of risk influenced by rainfall, temperature and rapid random urbanisation.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito lives in urban habitats and breeds primarily in man-made enclosures. It feeds during the day, but is especially active early in the morning and in the evening before dusk.

The Ministry of Health indicated that there is a remarkable global increase in the spread of dengue fever infections and other viruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, such as Zika virus, Yellow fever virus and Chikungunya virus.

The authority noted that dengue fever is the most common viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, and infections from it represent a great health burden in the countries where the disease is endemic.

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Dengue fever cases are diagnosed annually in the country and are generally from those coming from endemic areas around the world.

The Ministry pointed out that the risk of a local spread depends on the hypothesis of the presence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the country, in light of climatic changes and the existence of suitable environment for breeding.

The symptoms of dengue fever can be similar to symptoms of other diseases too, which makes it hard to diagnose.