“My first symptom that was really concerning was everywhere I looked, to the right or to the left, it felt like someone was pulling the eyeballs out of my head,” Rosie Moore tells Inside Edition.
Rosie Moore, dubbed the “world’s hottest scientist,” is speaking out after being diagnosed with dengue fever.
On a recent research trip to the Amazon jungle, she contracted the tropical disease.
“I don’t think people understand it’s actually like pretty rampant right now,” Moore tells Inside Edition.
Dengue fever is spread by a bite from the Asian tiger mosquito, which has invaded the United States.
“My first symptom that was really concerning was everywhere I looked, to the right or to the left, it felt like someone was pulling the eyeballs out of my head,” Moore says.
Moore developed a rash from head to toe.
“The rash was insane. I’ve never had a rash like that either, which was another very alarming symptom. I just woke up one day and the palms of my hands and my feet and my whole body was covered in this rash,” Moore says.
When Moore returned to her home in Florida from her trip to the Amazon, she continued to suffer from symptoms.
“My hair started falling out, rapidly, like I was actually balding,” Moore says.
The French city of Paris is getting ready to host the Olympics next month and there are fears it may become a superspreader for dengue.
Around four million Americans are expected in Paris next month and just a handful of people returning with infections could be enough to trigger a major epidemic. French authorities are deploying teams of “dengue detectives” to eradicate breeding grounds near Olympic venues.
Infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner spoke with Inside Edition.
“When you go out and about, wear loosely fitting clothing with long sleeves, not short sleeves, and long trousers because that obviously will discourage mosquito bites. And then the other thing which is very important, use insect repellent,” Schaffner says.
There are around 2,000 dengue cases in the U.S. so far this year and experts warn the numbers are certain to grow.
“This year it’s blowing up, like record high numbers,” Moore says.
Global warming, which has led to rising temperatures and increased rainfall, is believed to be behind the increase in mosquito populations that spread dengue fever. One official with the World Health Organization calls the outbreaks a “canary in the coal mine of the climate crisis.”
