St. Louis encephalitis virus
Like others, the SLEV is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and tiredness.
Infected older adults could develop encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain, and it could result in long-term disability or death if it is not carefully treated by doctor on time.
Yellow fever virus
A General Practitioner, Dr. Tunde Owoseni, says, “The specie of mosquito that is known to transmit the virus that causes yellow fever is called Aedes aegypti.”
“Yellow fever is not to be taken lightly, as it could kill if urgent care is not sought,” he warns.
Owoseni notes that yellow fever has three stages of infection, and they are:
Stage 1 (infection): Headache, muscle and joint aches, fever, flushing, loss of appetite, vomiting, and jaundice.
Stage 2 (remission): Fever and other symptoms go away.
Stage 3 (intoxication): Problems with many organs may occur, including the heart, liver, and kidney.
Dengue fever
Experts say, “Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely-related dengue viruses. These viruses are related to the viruses that cause West Nile infection and yellow fever.
“Dengue fever is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with a dengue virus.”
Like the other disease-transmitting mosquitoes, experts say, the Aedes mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person who has the dengue virus in his/her blood; and when such an infected mosquito bites an otherwise healthy person, s/he also becomes infected.
“Dengue fever is therefore a person-to-person infection,” researchers say.
Owoseni says that the symptoms of dengue usually begin to manifest four to six days after infection and could last for up to 10 days if treatment is not sought.
“The symptoms include sudden, high fever, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, skin rash, which appears two to five days after the onset of fever, mild bleeding (such as nose bleed, bleeding gums, or easy bruising),” Owoseni explains.
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