Oh man, this is good news. We lived in Puerto Rico for five years, and a year after we came back to Indiana, one of our son's classmates died of dengue. It was nearly under control in the 70's, but "nearly under control" just means you can stop paying for control measures - so it's come back with a vengeance in the past decade or so.
Nasty stuff. Acts just like a bad flu, and in a bad case they hospitalize you - mostly for dehydration; it's a viral disease so there's not much specific they can do. Then, after you're better, if you're not lucky, you're home from the hospital a day or two, suddenly don't feel so well, and fifteen minutes later you're dead of shock. Just like my son's friend. He was 11.
I had it a few years back. I had fever with headaches and couldn't eat much because I kept puking after every meal. I got admitted to hospital and they found that my platelet count was dropping as well. They were preparing for the possibility that I would need to get a blood transfusion when it stabilized and started improving. Apparently, they were waiting for the count to drop below a certain threshold and mine started recovering just above that value.
Nasty stuff. Acts just like a bad flu, and in a bad case they hospitalize you - mostly for dehydration; it's a viral disease so there's not much specific they can do. Then, after you're better, if you're not lucky, you're home from the hospital a day or two, suddenly don't feel so well, and fifteen minutes later you're dead of shock. Just like my son's friend. He was 11.