A KILLER bug tearing through holiday hotspots is especially dangerous to expecting mums and their unborn babies, scientists have warned.
Mosquito-borne dengue fever can can cause muscle and joint pain and severe headaches to those bitten by infected pests.
Getty – ContributorThe Asian tiger mosquito is responsible for spreading dengue fever[/caption]
But recent research conducted by the Universities of Surrey and Birmingham has found that it can be fatal or cause lifelong complications for mums and their unborn babies.
The paper warned that even a mild infection could make it 77 per cent more likely that a pregnant woman gives birth prematurely, before 32 weeks.
Getting dengue can also more than double the risk of a child being
It’s endemic – meaning regularly occurring in specific areas – to regions such as the Caribbean, Singapore, Thailand and the Pacific Islands.
But cases of the mosquito-borne infection have also popped up in places where dengue hasn’t been transmitted before in the past year.
These holiday spots will sound familiar to British tourists: party city Ibiza in Spain and Nice in the south of France.
Though Europe’s climate has historically not be hospitable to Asian tiger mosquitoes – the pests carrying dengue – warmer temperatures and tourism seem to be changing that, setting the scene for possible further outbreaks.
Dr Livia Menezes, co-author of the study at the University of Birmingham said: “While once limited to tropical and subtropical regions, the disease has now established its presence in more than 120 countries.
“[Asian tiger] mosquitoes, the carriers responsible for transmitting dengue, have found suitable breeding grounds in countries previously unaffected, including Croatia, France, Portugal, and the southern states of the USA,” she added.
As dengue – also known as ‘breakbone fever’ – infections increase, this also means that higher numbers of pregnant women are falling victim to it, Dr Neelika Malavige, head of scientific affairs and the dengue programme at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, told The Telegraph.
She said some impacts are better understood than others.
Previous studies have found that pregnant women is three to four times more likely to die after catching dengue, rising to 450 times more likely if the infection progress into dengue hemorrhagic fever.
This is a more severe and sometimes fatal form of the disease, where symptoms progress to tummy pain, persistent vomiting and hypothermia instead of fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But the impact on unborn babies can be harder to analyse.
Some research has suggested that dengue may cause miscarriages, premature deliveries or stillbirths, but in others the link is less clear cut.
And though transmission of dengue from a mum to her fetus has been observed in some cases, it’s not yet clear how common this is.
Doctors with experience delivering babies while the mother is suffering from dengue told The Telegraph it can be a huge challenge as they have “two lives to save”.
The research conducted by Surrey and Birmingham University analysed health records from Brazil between 2011 and 2017, looking at multiple births from the same women.
The “compelling evidence of the detrimental effects of maternal dengue infections on birth outcomes” lead calls for the mosquito-borne illness be officially recognised alongside diseases like Zika, HIV, chicken pox as a threat during pregnancy.
And it raised questions about whether expectant mums should think twice before travelling to dengue hotspots.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia said: “I would never tell a woman not to travel if she was pregnant – I would just say avoid it if you can.”
He also advised mums take extra precautions such as wearing insect repellent and long-sleeved clothing to avoid mozzie bites.
What are the symptoms of dengue?
Dengue doesn’t always cause symptoms but if you have them, they usually start four to 10 days after you’re bitten by a disease carrying mosquito.
Some symptoms are similar to the flu and they include:
a high temperature
a severe headache
pain behind your eyes
muscle and joint pain
feeling or being sick
swollen glands
a blotchy rash made up of flat or slightly raised spots – this can affect large areas of your body
Some people get a more severe type of dengue a few days after they first started feeling ill, but this is rare, according to the NHS.
They include:
severe tummy pain
repeatedly being sick
fast breathing
bleeding gums or nose
extreme tiredness (fatigue)
being unable to relax (restlessness)
blood in your vomit or poo
According to NHS guidance, the best way to protect yourself from the infection if you’re in a country where it’s found is to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
You should wear long-sleeved clothing and trousers to cover your arms and legs, particularly during early morning and early evening.
Be liberal with insect repellent – choose one that ideally contains the ingredient DEET.
Where possible, keep windows and doors closed or use blinds and screens.
And sleep under a mosquito net treated with insecticide, including during the day.