Dengue fever: Scientists fear UK could see outbreaks in the future – and this is why
Doctors who treated a British woman after she caught “break-bone fever” in the south of France have warned climate change could cause outbreaks as far north as the UK.
The 44-year-old woman was infected with dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, while visiting family near Nice last September and developed a fever, muscle pain, headache and rash.
She went to A&E when she returned to the UK.
An urgent sample was sent to the Rare Imported Pathogens Laboratory, which confirmed she had acute dengue virus infection.
The woman, who hasn’t been named by doctors, didn’t need treatment.
Her case was highlighted at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
While 75% of infected people have no symptoms, 1% to 5% develop potentially fatal severe dengue.
The joints can be so painful that people feel as if their bones have been broken.
Read more:
Dengue fever cases in Ibiza prompts warning to tourists from Spanish health officials
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Scientists engineer mosquitos to fight dengue
Dr Owain Donnelly from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, said: “This individual was part of an outbreak of over 30 locally transmitted cases in the south of France in 2022, which highlights the rapidly changing epidemiology of dengue.”
The disease is more commonly seen in people who have visited Asia, South America and Africa, where the virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes.
But one species, Aedes albopictus or the Asian Tiger mosquito, is now widespread in southern Europe.
It has also been detected by authorities at UK ports several times in recent years, but so far no local populations have been established.
Between June and September 2022, the Agence Regionale de Santé in France reported three separate outbreaks of the disease.
“With climate change, particularly hotter temperatures and more rainfall, and increasing global trade and tourism, we may see more parts of Europe with the right combination of factors for dengue outbreak,” warned Dr Donnelly.
The World Health Organisation warned last week that half the global population is now at risk of dengue, with an estimated 100 million to 400 million infections each year.
Paedophile Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died after being attacked in prison.
Watkins, 48, was serving a 29-year jail term for multiple sexual offences, including serious crimes against young children and babies at HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.
He was attacked with a knife by another inmate on Saturday morning, sources have confirmed.
West Yorkshire Police said two men, aged 25 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
A police van outside Wakefield prison. Pic: YappApp
Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene after prison staff reported the assault to police.
The prison went into lockdown in the immediate aftermath of the incident, sources added.
A Prison Service spokesperson said they could not comment while the police investigate.
Watkins was previously stabbed in an incident at the same prison in 2023, suffering non life-threatening injuries after he was reportedly taken hostage by three other inmates before being freed by prison officers six hours later.
He was sentenced in December 2013 to 29 years in prison, with a further six years on licence, after admitting 13 sex offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.
Watkins performing in 2004. Pic: PA
Read more from Sky News:
Nova festival survivor dies two years after girlfriend killed
Police try to keep protesters apart at Gaza war demo
He also encouraged a second fan to abuse her child during a webcam chat and secretly stashed child sexual abuse videos, some of which he had made himself.
At the time, police described him as a “committed, organised paedophile”.
Having found fame in Welsh rock band Lostprophets, Watkins was arrested after his Pontypridd home was searched on orders of a drug warrant in September 2012.
A large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized during the search.
When sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, the singer was told he was being given an extended sentence – and a judge said his crimes “plumbed new depths of depravity”.
After being caught with a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, he told a court that he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst”.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024