The Healthy Living Website of Lao PDR -- Dengue Fever

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called "break-bone" fever because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking, hence the name. Health experts have known about dengue fever for more than 200 years.

Cause

Dengue fever can be caused by any one of four types of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. You can be infected by at least two if not all four types at different times during your lifetime, but only once by the same type.

Symptoms

Symptoms of typical uncomplicated (classic) dengue usually start with fever within 5 to 6 days after you have been bitten by an infected mosquito and include

High fever, up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit
Severe headache
Retro-orbital (behind the eye) pain
Severe joint and muscle pain
Nausea and vomiting
Rash

The rash may appear over most of your body 3 to 4 days after the fever begins. You may get a second rash later in the disease.

Symptoms of dengue hemorrhagic fever include all of the symptoms of classic dengue plus

Marked damage to blood and lymph vessels
Bleeding from the nose, gums, or under the skin, causing purplish bruises

This form of dengue disease can cause death.

Symptoms of dengue shock syndrome--the most severe form of dengue disease--include all of the symptoms of classic dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever, plus

Fluids leaking outside of blood vessels
Massive bleeding
Shock (very low blood pressure)

This form of the disease usually occurs in children (sometimes adults) experiencing their second dengue infection. It is sometimes fatal, especially in children and young adults.

Treatment

There is no specific treatment for classic dengue fever, and like most people you will recover completely within 2 weeks. To help with recovery, health care experts recommend

Getting plenty of bed rest
Drinking lots of fluids
Taking medicine to reduce fever

It is advised that people with dengue fever not to take aspirin. Acetaminophen or other over-the-counter pain-reducing medicines are safe for most people.

For severe dengue symptoms, including shock and coma, early and aggressive emergency treatment with fluid and electrolyte replacement can be lifesaving.

Prevention

The best way to prevent dengue fever is to take special precautions to avoid contact with mosquitoes. Several dengue vaccines are being developed, but none is likely to be licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in the next few years.

When outdoors in an area where dengue fever has been found

Use a mosquito repellant containing DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus
Dress in protective clothing-long-sleeved shirts, long pants, socks, and shoes

Because Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day, be sure to use precautions especially during early morning hours before daybreak and in the late afternoon before dark.

Other precautions include:

Keeping unscreened windows and doors closed
Keeping window and door screens repaired
Getting rid of areas where mosquitoes breed, such as standing water in flower pots, containers, birdbaths, discarded tires, etc.

Source: www.niaid.nih.gov