Dengue Fever: Its Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Dengue fever is an illness caused by the bite of a mosquito called Aedes aegypti. This mosquito typically lives and breeds in freshwater, both indoors and outdoors.

When the Mosquito Bites?

 The dengue mosquitoes bite at the time of sunrise or at the time of sunset, so be careful during these times of the day.

Signs and Symptoms of Dengue Fever

After that, the Signs and symptoms that occur a week after the mosquito bite are as follows:

• A high-grade fever is typically 103 to 104°F.
•  Severe Body aches.
•  Severe Muscle and joint pains.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Pain behind the eyes.
• Fatigue.
• However, it sometimes starts with flu-like symptoms.

Mode of Transmission

However, Dengue fever is not contagious, which means it does not spread from person to person. It spreads when a mosquito bites a person infected with the dengue virus, and if the same mosquito bites another person, the virus enters the bloodstream of the person, so that the new person will get infected with the dengue virus.

What does the virus do inside your body?

The dengue virus targets the blood cells in the circulatory system, causing a decrease in white cell count and platelet count. It also affects the liver and spleen, leading to changes in blood clotting time and an increased risk of bleeding.

Phases/Stages of Dengue Fever

Furthermore, there are 3 stages of dengue fever:

 The febrile phase, also called dengue fever (DF):

In this phase, the patient has a high-grade fever for a duration of 3 -7 days. An important consideration in this phase is to control fever and maintain hydration by Intravenous fluids or oral fluids.

Most people recover from this phase with good care and by maintaining proper hydration. If the patient is not well-managed, the patient may enter the DHF Phase, a critical phase of dengue.

DHF (Dengue hemorrhagic fever):

 After seven days of the febrile phase, the fever becomes normal, and patients start feeling nausea, epigastric pain, and vomiting. In this phase of dengue, patients have a deficient number of platelets and can bleed easily.

Considerations in this phase are to maintain the patient’s platelet count and continue hydration. Also, the patient will have a skin rash. If these symptoms start, the patient should seek medical attention and avail themselves of proper medical care to prevent further complications, which may be life-threatening, such as death.

DSS (Dengue shock syndrome):

Moreover, in this phase, the patient becomes collapsed, going into severe hypovolemic shock, in which uncontrolled low blood pressure, uncontrolled bleeding, and breathing problems may require high dependency care in the hospital setting.

Treatment/management of dengue fever:

Hence, Dengue fever has no specific treatment; it is managed by supportive treatment, such as:

• Medication to reduce fever and pain. Try to lower your body temperature by applying cold sponging on your forehead and armpits and washing your face.
• Intravenous fluid administration, or if there is no nausea and vomiting, the patient can increase fluid intake as much as possible.
• Cover the bed of the dengue patient with a mosquito net so that dengue cannot be spread to other family members by mosquitoes.
• Take proper rest.
• Avoid outdoor activities that can cause dehydration. For symptoms of dehydration, open the link.
• Avoid sharp screens and lights that can worsen headaches.
• Avoid NSAIDs like ibuprofen and aspirin, which can increase your risk of bleeding if there is a drop in platelet count.
• Avoid using sharp objects like razors and knives that can make cuts, which can lead to severe bleeding.
• Avoid brushing your teeth; instead, apply toothpaste to your finger and clean your teeth, or use a very soft brush to avoid gum bleeding.
• Avoid intramuscular injections that can cause internal bleeding or internal hematomas.
• Be vigilant for complications of dengue fever, such as bleeding from any orifices, i.e., bleeding from the nose, mouth, blood in urine, blood in stools, etc.

Who is at risk of getting dengue?

However, populations of all ages who come in contact with the dengue mosquito are at risk of getting dengue, but the complications and severity depend on the patient’s immunity and physical health. Patients with weak immunity can have worse conditions than those with strong immunity.

Furthermore, patients who are on immunosuppressive therapy for any disease, patients who have undergone any kind of transplant, such as a bone marrow transplant, a kidney transplant, or a liver transplant, or patients who are undergoing chemotherapy treatment for any kind of underlying disease, such as cancer, are at higher risk of getting this illness.

Similarly, children and the elderly population are also at high risk of getting more complications of dengue due to weak immune systems and weak physical health.

Seeking Medical Attention:

Consult your physician in case of the following conditions.

•  High-grade fever and pain are not settling with fever medications such as paracetamol.
• Skin rash is getting worse day by day.
• Bleeding from any part of your body can be a nosebleed, rectal bleed, or blood in the urine.
• The feeling of low blood pressure, you will have rapid heart rate, and difficulty breathing are the symptoms of hypovolemic shock or severe dehydration. In this situation, hospitalization should be onsider on priority to prevent further worsening of the condition.
• Epigastric pain, severe nausea, or vomiting. Severe nausea and vomiting will lead to dehydration and further weakness and lethargy.

Furthermore, Dengue can be well managed by timely detection and proper management. However, delaying seeking medical advice and mismanagement can lead to severe complications and even death in severe cases.

The most important step is to keep yourself away from mosquitoes. As this illness becomes pandemic in some seasons, especially in tropical areas, a proactive approach, such as covering water tanks and other fresh water reservoirs, could prevent the breeding season and lower the risk of dengue.

Secondly, the doors and windows should be covered and closed early in the morning and at sunset. This prevents the entrance of mosquitoes into houses. The responsibility of the government is to spray open spaces in the city, and proper storage and coverage of water reservoirs could prevent the spread of the disease to some extent.