Dengue Fever

DENGUE

Dengue is an acute fever caused by a virus. It occurs in two forms:
(a) Dengue Fever
(b) Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever
The high fever continues for five to six days. It comes down on the third or the fourth day but rises again. The patient feels much discomfort and is very weak after the illness. Dengue spreads rapidly and may affect large number of people during an epidemic resulting in reduced work productivity, but most importantly causing the loss of lives.

Causes
Dengue is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito Aedes aegypti. The mosquito gets the virus by biting the infected persons. The first symptoms of the disease occur about 5-7 days after an infected bite.

Symptoms
 Sudden onset of high fever
 Severe and continuous pain in abdomen;
 Bleeding from the nose, mouth and gums or skin bruising;
 Frequent vomiting with or without blood;
 Black stools, like coal tar;
 Excessive thirst (dry mouth)
 Pale, cold skin
 Restlessness, or sleepiness

Preventive Measures
 All efforts of control should be directed against the mosquitoes. It is important to take control measures to eliminate the mosquitoes and their breeding places. However, the efforts should be intensified before the transmission season (during and after the rainy season) and at the time of the epidemic.
 Wear full sleeve clothes and long dresses to cover the limbs;
 Repellent – care should be taken in using repellents on small children and the elderly;
 Use mosquito coils and electric vapour mats during the daytime to prevent Dengue;
 Use mosquito nets – to protect babies, old people and others, who may rest during the day. The effectiveness of such nets can be improved by treating them with permethrin (pyrethroid insecticide). Curtains (cloth or bamboo) can also be treated with insecticide and hung at windows or doorways, to repel or kill mosquitoes.
 Protection of people sick with dengue – Mosquitoes become infected when they bite people who are sick