The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a fresh warning about an increased risk of dengue virus infections as a “record-breaking number” of cases are being reported in the Americas. 

From January 1 to June 24 of this year, more than 9.7 million dengue cases were recorded among countries in the Americas, which is more than double the 4.6 million infections recorded throughout 2023, according to the CDC. 

“Global incidence of dengue in 2024 has been the highest on record for this calendar year; many countries are reporting higher-than-usual dengue case numbers,” it also said. “In 2024, countries in the Americas have reported a record-breaking number of dengue cases, exceeding the highest number ever recorded in a single year.” 

The CDC describes the dengue virus as the “most common” mosquito-borne disease in the world. In the U.S., Florida has reported the most cases so far this year with 197, followed by New York with 134, Massachusetts with 50 and California with 40. 

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“Six U.S. territories and freely associated states are classified as areas with frequent or continuous dengue transmission: Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau,” the CDC adds. 

The health agency says one in every four dengue infections are symptomatic, with effects including fever and “nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle aches, joint pain, bone pain, pain behind the eyes, headache, or low white blood cell counts.” 

“Severe disease, with associated severe bleeding, shock or respiratory distress caused by plasma leakage, or end-organ impairment, develops in 1 in 20 people with symptomatic dengue,” according to the CDC. 

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Tiger mosquitoes are being blamed for the recent spread of the dengue virus in Europe. (iStock)

It said infants under the age of one, pregnant women and adults over the age of 65 carry an “increased risk of severe dengue” and that “transmission peaks during the warmer and wetter months in many tropical and subtropical regions.” 

There is not currently a medication to treat dengue, the CDC says. 

A worker is seen releasing smoke during a fumigation campaign against the Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito, which is the transmitter for the dengue virus, on June 24, in San Salvador, El Salvador.  (Aphotografia/Getty Images)

Infected people are advised to rest, take acetaminophen for pain and fever, stay hydrated and see a doctor. 

Fox News’ Melissa Rudy contributed to this report. 

A California doctor wants people to know that, in his view and experience, the medical community doesn’t always tell patients the truth.

Dr. Robert Lufkin, a physician and father of two young children, has been diagnosed with four chronic diseases — the same ones that claimed his father’s life.

Inspired by his own medical struggles, Lufkin decided to write a book exposing what he calls “medical lies” that contribute to the risk of chronic disease in the U.S. – some of which he says he himself once taught as a professor at UCLA and USC.

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While Lufkin is critical of the medical establishment, he pointed out that he is also still part of it himself.

“I’ve written hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and 10 textbooks, and also have the honor and privilege of teaching doctors and other health care professionals, as well as seeing patients,” Lufkin told Fox News Digital during an interview.  

His own diagnoses, Lufkin said, “woke him up” to the flaws in the medical system.

First, he developed a type of arthritis called gout. 

“Next, I developed hypertension, which practically half of adults have,” he said.

“Unless we address the metabolic cause … the diseases will only continue to get worse and worse.”

Then came pre-diabetes, followed by dyslipidemia — “which is sort of abnormal blood lipids.”

The doctor noted that he’s actually a “big fan” of Western medicine in general — “I think it’s transformed our lives and made the world a better place,” he said — but that in the 21st century, a “new class of diseases” has posed a challenge.

Dr. Robert Lufkin, a physician and father of two children, said Western medicine has “made the world a better place,” though he warns of widespread misinformation. (Dr. Robert Lufkin)

“The diseases were present before, but now they’re exploding,” he said.

These include obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and even mental illness, Lufkin said. 

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“Up to 80% of our resources are now spent on these chronic diseases.”

The problem, according to the doctor, is that the tools that were so effective in the 20th century — “the pills and surgeries” — might save lives in the moment.

But they only address the symptoms of these chronic diseases — not their root causes.

In his book, “Lies I Taught in Medical School,” Lufkin claims that medical professionals tend to propagate 10 major misconceptions. (Dr. Robert Lufkin)

“There’s a common metabolic cause that underlies most of these diseases,” Lufkin said.

“And unless we address the metabolic cause, the pills and surgeries will not. The diseases will only continue to get worse and worse.”

‘The 10 lies’

In his book, “Lies I Taught in Medical School,” Lufkin claims that medical professionals tend to propagate 10 falsehoods.

He listed these situations and includes separate chapters on them in his book, labeled this way: 

1. The Metabolic Lie: “Metabolism Is Just the Body’s Way of Digesting Food”

2. The Obesity Lie: “To Lose Weight, Just Exercise More and Eat Less”

3. The Diabetes Lie: “Sugar is Harmless, Other Than Causing Weight Gain and Tooth Decay”

4. The Fatty Liver Lie: “There Is No Treatment for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”

5. The Hypertension Lie: “High Blood Pressure Is Best Treated with Drugs”

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6. The Cardiovascular Disease Lie: “Statins Are a Good Choice to Prevent Heart Disease”

7. The Cancer Lie: “Most Cancer Is Caused by Accumulated DNA Damage”

8. The Alzheimer’s Lie: “Alzheimer’s Disease Is a Progressive, Untreatable Disease Caused by Beta-Amyloid Accumulation”

9. The Mental Health Lie: “Metabolism Has Little Effect on Mental Health”

10. The Longevity Lie: “Aging Is the Inevitable Result of Accumulated Wear and Tear”

“In each chapter,” said Lufkin, “we go through each of those chronic diseases that determine our life span — and we talk about what the lies are and what the truth is.” 

The doctor then presents a plan for making healthier lifestyle choices.

In his book, Dr. Lufkin also shares recommendations for healthy lifestyle choices to help prevent disease. (iStock)

“We talk about the nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress and how we can craft our own lifestyles to reverse those diseases,” he said.

In the excerpt below, Lufkin explains the first two of these “lies.”

Read an excerpt from ‘Lies I Taught in Medical School’

The Obesity Lie: ‘A Calorie Is Just a Calorie’

Dr. Robert Lufkin: We are now experiencing the worst global epidemic of obesity in history. Statistics show that 42.5% of adults age 20 and over are obese, and 73.6% are at least overweight. 

Almost half of Americans are now obese, and most are overweight. Obesity is unhealthy and a marker for metabolic dysfunction, which manifests as hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, cancer and other chronic diseases.

“We are now experiencing the worst global epidemic of obesity in history.”

Our understanding of the causes of this epidemic and the approaches to treating it is based on a simple lie: that “a calorie is a calorie,” implying that obesity is caused by eating too many calories.

“Obesity is unhealthy and a marker for metabolic dysfunction, which manifests as hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, cancer and other chronic diseases,” a doctor writes in his book. (iStock)

As a physician, I know from personal experience that I can make anyone gain weight or fat just by giving them extra insulin. This is seen in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics as soon as they begin taking extra insulin as a medication.

To put it another way, calories are necessary, but not sufficient to drive obesity. Insulin is required. Obesity is not just a calorie problem; it’s an insulin problem. 

If all foods stimulated insulin equally, then a calorie would just be a calorie. That’s not a lie. But all foods don’t trigger insulin the same way.

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The truth here is that in order to lose (or gain) weight, the most important thing is not the number of calories consumed, but rather the types of calories that affect insulin levels and direct our bodies to store energy as fat. 

As every rancher knows, to fatten livestock, simply feed them large amounts of refined carbohydrates that will turn on insulin and drive energy storage into fat. 

Feeding livestock fatty foods will not have the same effect.

The Diabetes Lie: ‘Sugar is Harmless, Other Than Causing Weight Gain and Tooth Decay’

We are currently at the beginning of the worst diabetes epidemic the world has ever known. Ten percent of American adults have type 2 diabetes, and about 38% have prediabetes. This means that for the first time in history, 48% — or nearly half the population — have the same metabolic disease!

“We are currently at the beginning of the worst diabetes epidemic the world has ever known,” Dr. Robert Lufkin writes in his new book.  (iStock)

The diabetes lie declares that the best way to treat type 2 diabetes is with insulin. 

Giving insulin will help control the immediate effects of too much glucose in the blood by telling our cells to remove that blood glucose and store it as fat. 

However, it will also raise the body’s overall insulin levels, worsening insulin resistance, the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes. Additionally, elevated insulin levels drive other chronic diseases.

“Many people would rather take a pill or a shot instead of changing their lifestyles.”

Our health care system is sadly much more optimized to deliver prescriptions for insulin and other drugs for managing type 2 diabetes than giving instructions on how to reverse it by changing our nutrition to avoid the causes. 

To be fair, many people would rather take a pill or a shot instead of changing their lifestyles. But most people don’t know how powerful and effective lifestyle choices can be.

Plus, there is some evidence to show that merely improving glucose control with drugs, such as insulin or pills, might not prevent some of the long-term complications these patients all face.

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There are also financial incentives. In 2013, sales of insulin and other diabetes drugs reached $23 billion, according to data from IMS Health, a drug market research firm. 

That was more than the combined revenue of the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Excerpted with permission from the new book, “Lies I Told in Medical School” (BenBella Books, Inc.), by Dr. Robert Lufkin, copyright © 2024 by Dr. Robert Lufkin. All rights reserved. 

Since the age of 13, Joseph Kowalsky has harbored a fascination with life after death, pondering ways to extend his existence indefinitely. 

Today, Kowalsky, now 59, is among some 2,000 individuals who have signed up with the Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Michigan, betting on a future where death is not the end.

Chilling prospect of immortality

Cryonics, the process at the heart of Kowalsky’s hopes, involves preserving human bodies at ultra-low temperatures in the anticipation that future science will one day revive them. 

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Shortly after a person dies, organizations like the Cryonics Institute use a heart-lung resuscitator, circulate a medical-grade antifreeze in the blood and suspend the body in aluminum pods filled with liquid nitrogen. 

Dennis Kowalski, current president of the Cryonics Institute (and no relation to Joseph Kowalsky), told Fox News that over 250 individuals are currently in “suspension” at the Michigan facility.

Could defying death be affordable?

The Cryonics Institute is just one player in a burgeoning industry. 

Alcor, the world’s oldest cryonics company, which is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, boasts a state-of-the-art facility where more than 200 individuals are preserved. 

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For those opting for whole-body preservation, the price tag is $200,000, while brain-only preservation costs $80,000. 

Alcor CEO James Arrowood dispels the notion that cryonics is solely for the wealthy, highlighting that many clients use life insurance policies to cover costs. 

Over 250 individuals are currently in “suspension” at the Michigan facility, the president of the Cryonics Institute told Fox News. (Cryonics Institute)

“About 80% of people who sign up are middle-class,” Arrowood told Fox News.

He pointed out that the clientele includes notable figures such as baseball legend Ted Williams, whose head and body were cryopreserved separately.

Skeptics cast doubt

Critics dismiss cryonics as speculative and unproven, labeling it an “iceberg scheme” lacking scientific backing. 

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“It’s a sad case of people being beguiled by a very understandable dream of resurrection,” Clive Coen of King’s College London told Fox News.

The neuroscience professor raised concerns over the damage inflicted during the preservation and revival process, warning that “there will be billions of mini-strokes in every millimeter of brain tissue” due to the inability of antifreeze to traverse the brain’s complex landscape.

Hope springs eternal for death defiers

There is currently no scientific evidence or successful case of a human being revived from a cryonically preserved state. 

For those opting for whole-body preservation, the price tag is $200,000, while brain-only preservation costs $80,000.  (Cryonics Institute)

Despite the skepticism, Joseph Kowalsky, who formerly worked with the Cryonics Institute, remains undeterred. 

“Worst-case scenario, I’m still dead … And the upside? It could be a potentially life-saving medical technique,” he said.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews/health

As science and ethics continue to grapple with the implications of cryonics, individuals like Kowalsky illustrate a deep-seated hope for defying mortality, one frozen body at a time.

Andres del Aguila and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.