Dengue Causes, Symptoms, Treatment in India | Medanta

What is Dengue?

Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes mosquito which breeds in free-standing water. It could be in your home, in potted plant trays, or even in your fridge. It can also be transferred to the unborn baby in a pregnant woman who is infected with the disease.

Congenital dengue is an arboviral disease caused by four types of the dengue viruses (DENV 1-4). Congenital dengue can be dangerous if untreated. The disease can vary from mild to intense, and can take dangerous forms which include dengue shock syndrome and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). DHF is also known as break bone fever.

Symptoms

People can get dengue four times in their life. The major symptoms include:

High Fever.
Headache.
Vomiting.
Joint pain.
Skin rashes.
Rare symptoms include bleeding, low blood platelet count, low blood pressure (BP), etc.

Causes

Dengue is caused by the viruses spread by mosquito Aedes that thrive in and near human lodgings. When a mosquito bites a person infected with the virus of dengue, the virus enters the mosquito. When the infected mosquito bites another person, the virus enters the bloodstream of that person.

Risks

The main risks factors are:

Living or traveling to areas where the disease is widespread.
Prior infection with dengue virus.

Prevention

To prevent the dengue virus from circulating, these are certain things one should take care of:

Wear and protective clothes properly covering your body.
Use mosquito repellent creams and sprays.
Reduce the habitat of the mosquitos.
Stay in well-screened housing.

How is it diagnosed?

There are many tests to diagnose the disease, but no proper medicine to treat this infection. There are some tests which are used for diagnosis, depending upon the symptoms of the patient. Dengue i...

Zika virus testing
Arbovirus testing
West nile virus testing
Complete blood count test
Electrolytes test

How is it treated?

Since there is no specific medicine or treatment for dengue, our doctors at Medanta will treat patient using treatments which may vary on a case-to-case basis.

Syptoms management
The patients will be advised to drink adequate fluids (including oral rehydration solution and juices), and should urinate at least once in every 6 hours. If symptoms of dengue worsen, the patient should be brought to the hospital.
Critical Care
Patients are admitted to the hospital for close observation, especially pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with obesity and diabetes. They remain under observation until the risk period is over.

When do I contact the doctor?

If you live in an area in which dengue is known to occur, or you have visited any such place lately and you suddenly start to develop the symptoms of the disease such as high fever, vomiting, and headache, you are advised to see a doctor immediately.

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