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….
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