How I became a dengue victim

You generally don't forget a warning from a doctor surnamed Killer.

A decade ago Dr Graeme Killer visited Thailand to check out health risks ahead of a tour by his patient, then Australian prime minister John Howard. He certainly got close to the action, contracting dengue fever from a mosquito during his reconnaissance. 'It's the daytime biting that gets you,' Killer told me at the time. 'You take precautions in the evenings ... but with the dengue, it's just no good. And you get in it the city, not just the countryside.'

In the years since, Killer's warning has stayed with me. I've droned on to friends visiting Southeast Asia about the worsening threat of dengue. Spread by the Aedes mosquitoes, it is the perfect virus for a modernising region - Aedes strains, albopictus and aegypti, thrive in stagnant water in dumped soft drink cans and car tyres as well as at construction sites and in abandoned swimming pools. Increased air travel and global warming is broadening the spread, as Hong Kong has discovered in recent years.

Cities such as Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh and Yangon report worsening annual wet-season outbreaks, despite mosquito eradication campaigns. Even squeaky-clean Singapore has struggled to contain dengue.

There is no vaccine to prevent infection. And there is no medication, other than basic fever reducers, to fight it afterwards. While dengue can result in internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea, it is rarely fatal at first infection. But contracting it provides no immunity against other strains - and a second infection is often haemorrhagic and decidedly more dangerous.

These facts have always been in the back of my mind on my travels and I've always worn long-sleeved, light-coloured clothing, resorting to ankle boots and repellent if mosquitoes are about. But it has not been enough. A few days after my return from a swing through the region last month, I felt decidedly dodgy. First I noticed a heavy head and a pain behind the eyes. The following night the fever hit. Given the fear of swine flu, I unusually went straight to a doctor.

A test for dengue proved negative but infectious diseases specialist Dr John Simon wasn't convinced as he sought to rule out malaria, typhoid and other delights.