Terrifying Facts About Dengue Fever: How to Stay Safe from this Silent Treatment

Dengue, or break-bone fever, is a viral infection that infects humans via mosquitoes. You’ll find good headcounts of dengue patients in tropical and subtropical climates.

Mostly, dengue is symptomless. However, those who do show have headaches, high fever, nausea, rashes, and body aches. These dengue fever symptoms last for 1-2 weeks. Some might even develop severe dengue and need hospitalisation.

With the increase in severity, dengue can be fatal. You can lower your risk of dengue by staying away from mosquitoes. A low dengue platelet count is a characteristic feature of this disease.

Causes of Dengue Disease

Dengue virus is responsible for causing dengue fever. When a mosquito infected by this virus bites you, the virus from the mosquito enters your body. It starts replicating itself and then invades and attacks your immune system.

It can destroy a lot of your blood cells. By weakening your immune system, your blood will leak out of its vessels and trigger internal bleeding. This might cause you life-threatening dengue fever symptoms.

How Does It Spread?

Aedes mosquitoes are responsible for spreading dengue fever from person to person. It is the same group of mosquitoes carrying Chikungunya and Zika viruses.

As soon as the mosquitoes bite someone suffering from dengue fever and subsequently bite a healthy person, they transmit the virus from the infected person to the healthy one.

While dengue fever is non-contagious, it needs these Aedes mosquitoes for its transfer. The only way it can be directly transmitted is when a pregnant woman is infected with this virus. She may pass it on to her child in her womb.

Diagnosing Your Dengue Fever

Your dengue fever is diagnosed with the help of a blood test, where your dengue platelet count is considered. The phlebotomist will derive blood from your vein and diagnose it in the laboratory.

Managing and Treating Your Dengue Fever

There are no dengue fever treatments defined. All you can do is manage your dengue fever symptoms. Contact your doctor to understand how you should manage your dengue fever. This may include:

• Drink plenty of fluids and water to keep yourself hydrated
• Rest as much as possible
• Acetaminophen is beneficial for treating your pain
• Avoid taking aspirin or ibuprofen. These can increase your chances of internal bleeding.

Suggested Read: Dengue Fever: All You Need to Know

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Are There Any Ways of Preventing Dengue?

There are two key points to ponder while preventing dengue fever – avoid mosquito bites and vaccinate yourself.

Mosquito Protection

The most successful approach to protecting yourself from dengue fever is protecting yourself from mosquito bites. You can:

• Use insect repellent containing up to 30 per cent DEET. This is a requisite for keeping the Aedes mosquitoes away.
• Do not leave your skin exposed when you are outdoors. This protocol is essential, especially if you are a night owl.
• Keep your doors and windows closed, especially during the evenings, so that there is no space for mosquitoes to enter your house.
• Do not store standing water in barrels, buckets, or other containers. They may be harbouring grounds for your dengue mosquitoes.
• Make sure that you sleep under a mosquito net.
• While travelling, make sure that you keep a close eye on the disease outbreaks in your targeted location.
• Pregnant women should avoid travelling where dengue fever is more prevalent.

Dengue Vaccine

Dengvaxia is a vaccine developed to protect against dengue fever. This is administered only if you already had an exposure. The primary purpose of this vaccine is to protect you against severe dengue in the future.

If you did not suffer from dengue fever before, there is no need to get yourself vaccinated. Getting infected with the dengue virus once makes you more vulnerable to facing it again in the future. Hence, vaccination is essential for those who have had previous exposures. Your doctor might ask you to go for a blood test to detect whether you had a prior exposure. This vaccine is not for every individual.

Takeaway

Millions of people suffer from dengue fever every year. While most cases are usually mild, others may develop severe dengue fever symptoms and require hospitalisation. Fortunately, by staying more alert regarding the outbreak and your surroundings, you can reduce the probability of suffering from the condition. If you fall prey to dengue fever while travelling, seek immediate medical assistance. Patients may require hospitalisation and a more extended recovery period for severe cases.