Dengue Infecting More Illinoisans, CDC Issues Warning

The CDC has issued a warning as an illness spreads through Illinois.

As of June 25th, there's a dengue warning in effect for the U.S., per the CDC, just in time for summer travel for a lot of folks.

According to NBC Chicago, 27 Illinoisans are currently positive for dengue. Those cases are in Cook County, Ogle, and Champaign. Dengue has been found in Iowa too, with reported cases in Polk and Harrison Counties.

What Dengue Is

Dengue is yet another sickness we can attribute to mosquitoes. Dengue probably won't kill you but the CDC says it can definitely make you sick.

If you go somewhere tropical this summer and get bit by a few mosquitoes, you're at risk for it. Health officials say about 1 in 4 infections are symptomatic and that sickness can hang around for 5-7 days after an incubation period of about 2 weeks.

Symptoms include:

• nausea
• vomiting
• muscle aches
• joint & bone pain
• rash
• pain behind the eyes
• headache
• low white blood cell counts

There aren't really dengue vaccines unless you've had a previous dengue infection. There isn't any kind of antiviral for it either, just take your acetaminophen, drink plenty of fluids, and rest.

Here's the good news with this virus: dengue is kind of like the chicken pox in that getting infected with it naturally provides protection against getting it again for a few months or years.

The stats for dengue don't look good. The CDC says that so far in 2024, there have been 9.7 million cases of it reported across the Americas. In all of 2023, there were only 4.6 million.