Missouri Issues Urgent Warning about Deadly Mosquito-borne Virus

This is one of those warnings from the Missouri Department of Health that you hope is precautionary and not an indication of something that will become a widespread issue in the state. A new bulletin has been issued about a deadly mosquito-borne virus of which there is no cure.

This alert was just shared this week by the Missouri Department of Health. It's in response to a national warning from the CDC entitled "Increased Risk of Dengue Virus Infections in the United States". The Missouri health authorities say that this alert has been shared to "notify healthcare providers, public health authorities and the public of an increased risk of dengue virus".

The most common dengue virus infections come from insect bites and primarily mosquitos.

If this virus becomes prevalent in Missouri they warn there "are no antiviral medications approved to treat dengue". The good news is if caught early, most will recover from dengue without any long-term problems. However, the mortality rate in those that develop low blood pressure is a terrifying 26% according to Wikipedia.

Health Map shows the warnings are going out not just in Missouri, but other states also about this problematic virus. The emergency statement from the CDC says that in the Americas the cases of dengue virus are seeing an alarming rise "a record-breaking number of dengue cases, exceeding the highest number ever recorded in a single year".

Back to my original hope that these warnings are precautionary and we're not about to endure a major outbreak. You can check out the full statement from the Missouri Department of Health for more details and updates.