Across Asia, Dengue Fever Cases Reach Record Highs

On the way back from a morning run up the mountain on Koh Phangan island, Natalie Revie felt something was wrong. It was not just fatigue. "I felt my back had collapsed. Any strength or power I had there was gone completely," recalls Revie, a freelance writer from England who lives in Thailand. "I felt my legs and hips belonged to a dingly, dangly scarecrow."

Revie, 30, stayed in bed the rest of the day, but she went from bad to worse. Her bones were aching all over, and she was unable to move. The stabbing pains behind her eyes were so terrible that she couldn't look at anything. Revie went to see a doctor the next day and had some blood tests that confirmed her initial worry: she had dengue.

Vagabond Virus

Scott Tind Simmons was at his office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when he started to feel sick. By the time he got to bed, his flu-like symptoms gave way to achy joints and feverish dreams. That's when he got suspicious that he had dengue fever, the mosquito-borne virus that, in its deadly form, causes blood to seep from the bloodstream into tissue and eventually from the body's orifices. Several days later, doctors diagnosed the expat aid worker with a milder, non-lethal variation of the disease. Since there are no drugs or vaccines for dengue, Tind Simmons did what some 38,500 infected Cambodians did this year: he drank plenty of water and waited for his bout of "bone-break fever," as the disease is often called, to go away.

How To Get Motivated To Exercise

A lot of us wonder exactly how to motivate ourselves to exercise... what is this special motivation thing you need to propel yourself out of bed or out the door and straight to your workouts?

 The motivation thing is different for all of us, so no one can precisely answer that question. But what is known is that what determines whether you get your workout done or not is your attitude. It is our attitude that determines our level of fitness and it is our attitude that will determine whether we want to sit on the couch or get out to the gym for a workout.

Dance for Fitness at Blue Wave Pasay

Dance for Fitness is a series of weekend-workshop-classes with a focus on dance from March 13 until April l8. Choose from Hip Hop, Yoga and Freestyle Dance, Breakdance and Contemporary Dance with established performers from the Metro's dance community.