Dengue

Dengue is also known as break bone fever and is caused by a virus. Dengu is a communicable disease. You can get it if an infected mosquito bites you. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the Aedes group. Dengue occurs in tropical areas. Sometimes dengue turns into dengue hemorrhagic fever, which causes bleeding from your nose, or under your skin. It can also become dengue shock syndrome which causes massive bleeding and shock. This is a life-threatening condition. Symptoms and Signs A large number of infections may be sub-clinical, that is, the patients may not even be aware that they have had the disease. The infection usually manifests itself as fever with severe body pain or myalgia. There may be an associated rash over parts of the body. The body pain is so intense that this disease has been called break-bone fever. Quite often, the disease makes nofurther progress and the patients recover. However, some patients may develop involvement of either of the two dreaded syndromes in Dengue - bleeding (called DHF or Dengue Hemorraghic Fever) or involvement of the brain with altered consciousness (encephalitis). Fatalities are higher among patients in whom these complications are present. Joint pain is another symptom though there may not be true arthritis. Associated symptoms include severe headache, vomiting, and photophobia. Examination of the patient may reveal few findings such as a rash and pain on palpation of the muscles. These symptoms usually last for a period of two to five days and most patients who do not have complications recover completely. The risk of complications appears to be greater in children, particularly the risk of bleeding and DHF with its high fatality rate. Some patients may also go into shock, a condition known as Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS). This too carries a higher risk of mortality. Treatment and Prognosis Treatment is usually supportive and symptomatic. Analgesics, anti-pyretics, and broad-spectrum antibiotics are used during the acute phase to minimise the risk of secondary infection. In cases of bleeding, blood transfusions are required. Shock, if present, needs to be aggressively treated with fluids, oxygen, and close monitoring. Most patients will recover without any sequel. The overall mortality rate with effective treatment is close to 1% but this may be higher in children. Prevention Control and elimination of mosquito population is the best method of prevention. A vaccine is in the late stages of development but is still not available for commercial use on a large scale. Control of the mosquito population reduces the incidence of dengue, yellow fever, and certain other rare fevers that are also transmitted by the same species of mosquito.

Dengue - fatal disease, causes and cures

Dengue fever is a flu kind of illness spread by mosquito bites. Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by any of the dengue family virus. This is also widely known as 'Break bone fever' due to the severe joint pain caused during the attack. Dengue can be diagnosed by blood test. The infected person as such cannot spread the infection but can be a source to spread it.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is often complicated and severe. This rather can be termed as a complication dengue fever. Those bitten by the mosquito can get dengue fever and those already infected once if infected again are prone to higher risk of getting dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Dengue is an infectious disease causing frequent epidemics. There are various factors that contribute like lack of effective mosquito control, lack of public health systems to control the epidemic, the increase usage of plastic items which are the breeding sites of the mosquitoes.


Dengue is spread by the bite of an 'Ades' Mosquito. This mosquito bites the infected person and then bites someone else who is not affected thus transmitting the infection. These mosquitoes are active during the day time and spread the infection during day time. These mosquitoes live among human beings and breed in discarded tyres, flower pots, water stores etc.

Treatment for Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic fever

As far as the treatment is concerned there is no specific course, However the affected person is treated with Paracetamol to bring down the fever. The person is usually adviced to drink lots of fluids. The infected person should be isolated until recovery from the rest of the family to prevent further infections.

Although there is no vaccine to prevent this epidemic certain preventive measures as specified below can be taken to control the epidemic.

Preventive Measures to control Dengue Fever

* Use mosquito repellents.
* discard all unwanted items getting gathered around the living area to avoid the breeding of mosquitoes.
* Keep the water stores clean and closed.
* keep yourself well covered when outside.
* Take prompt medical advice once fever starts.