Dengue Fever

Like malaria, mosquito-borne dengue is a disease of the lowland tropics, but it’s less common than malaria and only rarely fatal. Often debilitating in the short term, its symptoms include fever, headache, severe joint pain, and skin rashes, but most people recover fairly quickly even though there is no treatment. Uncommon but often fatal, the more severe dengue hemorrhagic fever sometimes occurs in children, particularly those who have suffered from the disease previously.

Eradicated in Argentina in 1963, the mosquito vector Aedes egypti is once again present as far south as Buenos Aires. There were several hundred confirmed cases in lowland subtropical areas of Salta Province in 1997, and health authorities believe outbreaks are possible in Buenos Aires. The best prophylaxis is to avoid mosquito bites by covering exposed parts of the body with insect repellent or appropriate clothing.

Chagas’ Disease

Also known as South American trypanosomiasis, Chagas’ is most common in Brazil but affects about 18 million people between Mexico and Argentina; 50,000 people die from it every year. Not a tropical disease per se, it has a discontinuous distribution—Panamá and Costa Rica, for instance, are Chagas’-free.

Since it is spread by the bite of the night-feeding cone-nose or assassin bug, which lives in adobe structures, avoid such structures (these still exist in the countryside); if it’s impossible to do so, sleep away from the walls. DEET-based insect repellents offer some protection. Chickens, dogs, and opossums may carry the disease.

Chagas’ appears first as a swollen bite accompanied by fever, which soon subsides. In the long run, though, it may cause heart damage leading to sudden death, intestinal constipation, and difficulty in swallowing; there is no cure. Charles Darwin may have been a chronic sufferer.

© Wayne Bernhardson from Moon Argentina, 3rd edition