What is dengue fever?
It is a type of viral infectious disease whose infection is spread from person to person through the bite of a particular type of mosquito named Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The virus responsible for this is known as DENV-1,2,3 and 4.
It is a very severe body condition characterized by high fever, extreme body ache, extreme headache, etc. It is also called dengue or dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Because of the symptoms of this fever, it is also known as break-bone fever; this is because, in this fever, one feels pain like breaking bones.
It is a disease that is very much seen as an epidemic.
In which season dengue fever spreads the most?
This fever spreads more during the rainy season, especially in July-August, September-October because the conditions are favorable for breeding mosquitoes in these months.
What is the incubation period of dengue fever?
About 3 to 5 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito, the symptoms of dengue begin to appear in the patient. Its contagious period can be from 3 days to 10 days.
What are the types of dengue fever?
It is mainly of three types…
- 1. Simple or Classical Dengue Fever
- 2. Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF)
- 3. Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS)
Because of the intensity of this disease, it is divided into three parts; it is necessary to diagnose and treat it properly.
How Is Dengue Fever Diagnosed?
If a person has a high fever with chills and symptoms like headache, extreme body pain, etc., he should contact his doctor soon and get his blood tested.
To diagnose dengue in the early stages of fever, its antigen test in the laboratory called- Dengue NS 1 is conducted. This blood test becomes positive in the initial days, and later, gradually, its positivity starts decreasing in the blood.
If a blood test is to be done after a few days of fever, about 3 to 4 days, then a dengue serology test should be done; this test is also called the dengue antibody test. If it becomes positive, it means that the patient has dengue fever.
Which is available in almost every laboratory. In addition to the two main blood tests, the CBC test is also done to look at the white cells (WBC count) and platelets in the blood.
This is because white blood cells and platelet cells start decreasing in dengue fever, and based on these, the intensity of dengue is measured.
Normal blood platelet cells are between 1.5 lakh to 400,000. But in dengue fever, the platelet cells start decreasing gradually; sometimes, this number comes down to 20,000; in such a situation, the patient may also need to be transfused blood platelets.
What are the best preventive measures for dengue fever?
The most important step to prevent the spread of dengue fever is to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes because this disease is spread by mosquitoes. The special thing to note in this is that the Aedes mosquito lays eggs in stagnant, shady, and stagnant water, so the most important step is eliminating the sources of stagnant water.
What is the breeding place of the dengue fever mosquito?
Clean all such places where these mosquitoes breed, such as…
- Old tires
- Uncovered tanks and pits
- Empty Drums, Barrels, etc.
- Unused buckets and containers
- Pet utensils
- Open bottles
- Tin cans
- The construction site where water collects
- Tree holes and bamboo sticks
- The gap between the bricks on the wall
- Old shoes
- Roof and street drain
- Old pots
- Vase
- A swimming pool that is not used for many days
- Old scrap cooler
- Stagnant rainwater
All these places are the best breeding places for Aedes mosquitoes; keep all these places clean.
- Apart from this, change the water of pots and coolers every other day and use a sandy, granular insecticide in the pots' water.
- Clean the plates kept under the flower pot etc. If necessary, spray DDT or other insecticides like black hits, etc., in these places.
- Clean the empty utensils, buckets, and containers at home properly and keep them upside down.
- Keep the drains made on the roof of the house absolutely clean.
- Do not let the water drain in the house get obstructed. At least once a month, use BT insecticide at the place of drainage and in drains.
- Keep the toilet seat covered and clean it every day.
In this way, dengue fever can be prevented from spreading only by keeping every place clean and following the different guidelines issued by the government to eliminate dengue.
How to protect yourself from Dengue Mosquito…
These mosquitoes mostly bite the lower parts of the body, so it is important that…
- Wear socks, shoes, long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and keep your body almost covered.
- Use modern mosquito repellants like All Out etc.
- Apply mosquito repellent creams like Odomos etc., on your exposed parts while sleeping at night.
- Mosquito nets can also be used to avoid mosquitoes.
- Get rid of mosquitoes by lighting the mosquito coils.
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