Dengue fever, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Dengue fever, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Dengue fever

Dengue fever is a mosquito borne disease caused by one of the four closely related dengue viruses. These viruses are related to those viruses that caused Nile infection and yellow fever.

An estimated 400 million people across the globe are infected due to dengue virus and about 90 million resulting illness. Most cases are occurred in tropical areas of the world. These are some common areas.

• Pacific islands
• Indian subcontinents
• Southeast Asia
• Southern china
• Taiwan
• The Caribbean
• Mexico
• Africa
• Central and south America
• North part of Australia

Dengue fever transmits by the bites of Aedes mosquito infected by Dengue virus. The mosquito becomes infected when it bites the dengue virus infected person it can’t be spread by the one person to another person. Basically, in this disease mosquito is a transmission factor.

Symptoms of Dengue fever

Symptoms that usually begin 5 to 6 days after infection and last for 10 days may include

• Severe headache
• Sudden high fever
• Pain behind eyes
• Fatigue
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Joint and muscle pain
• Skin rash
• Mild bleeding like gum bleeding, easy bruising

Sometimes symptoms can be mild and mistaken for those of flu or viral infection. Younger children and people who have never had the infection before tend to have milder cases than older children and adults.

Diagnosis of dengue fever

doctors can diagnose dengue infection with a simple blood test by checking virus and antibodies in it. If you become sick and above symptoms of dengue seen then doctors will do the dengue test or you should tell the doctor to do the dengue test to be protective.

Treatment of dengue fever

There is no specific medicine to treat dengue fever yet. If you think you may have dengue fever, you should use pain reliever with paracetamol. And should avoid aspirin as it can increase the bleeding. You should rest and drink plenty of liquid and see a doctor. If you feel worse in 24 hours after your fever goes down, you should go to doctor immediately to be checked for complications.

 
Prevention of dengue fever

The vaccine for dengue fever has been approved and commercially available in most of the countries. Other ways to prevent dengue are to reduce mosquito habitat and limiting exposure of bites. You can follow tips below.

•       You can reduce mosquito habitat by covering standing water and get rid of stuff that breed mosquito like used disposable cups, egg shells, old tires, cans, flower pots etc that collects rain water.
•       If you are outdoor wear clothes that covers much of the body.
•       If you are in tropical region you should protect yourself from mosquito bites by using precautions like mosquito repellents even when you are indoor.
•       You can also grow indoor mosquito repellent plants like lavender, lemongrass, citronella grass etc.
•       Use air condition if possible.
•       You can secure windows and doors with metal net.
•       While sleeping use mosquito nets

       

       Dengue virus is spread worldwide so its good to take care of oneself and close people. Take care….