Dengue Fever Hits Rome: An 80-Year-Old's Encounter

Dengue in Rome, probably at her own home. Franca Pandolfi, 80 years old, shared her experience with Adnkronos Salute last October, dealing with an exotic disease endemic in many tropical areas, which is starting to become known in Italy as well. "A mosquito bite, in Rome, in my city, perhaps at home. An unpleasant encounter that made me understand what 'breakbone fever' means, as Dengue is called." "I experienced the discomfort of a tropical disease without moving from my living room, without even the pleasure of an exotic trip - jokes Mrs. Franca - although in my neighborhood I became famous, together with my granddaughter, after being hospitalized due to the infection." Dengue, alarm in Italy for the Aedes aegypti mosquito: the new measures of the ministry to block the "vector" of the virus From granddaughter to grandmother The story of Franca Pandolfi begins at the end of summer, when her sixteen-year-old granddaughter falls ill. It seemed like a sort of flu, but the high fever does not subside. A family friend, a doctor at the Spallanzani Institute, recommends a test, given the presence of some cases in the area. "I had heard of this disease," continues Mrs. Franca, "but it seemed like a remote thing to me." And the following month, when "I started having symptoms that seemed like a normal flu, I didn't think about it immediately. After the first few days, however, I began to have severe bone pain. At this point, my family doctor intervened and recommended the test." Following Franca is Dr. Mario Brozzi, who, together with his daughter Valeria, a general medicine trainee, has made the highest number of reports to the local health authority for Dengue and has started a collaboration project with the Spallanzani Institute to send suspected cases for confirmation of the diagnosis. Mrs. Franca, therefore, after the test at the Spallanzani, was hospitalized in the same institute for checks, necessary also to avoid possible complications. "As had already happened to my granddaughter," she explains, "I was in the hospital for a week. I complained of very strong bone pain that didn't even let me sleep. And the doctors then explained to me that the disease is also called 'breakbone'. And I can assure that it is indeed so."