According to a statement issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), every year dengue affects more than 3.9 million people worldwide. Factors like insufficient urban sanitation, increase in population, and fluctuation in rainfall, humidity and temperature have contributed to increasing dengue symptoms in patients by almost 30% every passing year in Pakistan. Following are the important details that you must know about this disease.

1. Causes of dengue fever and how does it spread?

Aedes species (Ae. aegypti or Ae. albopictus), causes dengue and transmit the disease by sucking blood from the infected person. These mosquitoes carrying the virus can then go on to multiply the virus for up to 400 meters while searching for containers filled with water to lay their eggs.

Dengue is not a disease that spreads directly from one person to another and needs a medium, which is a mosquito to reach other people. The most favourable time for this mosquito to spread dengue is usually early in the morning or at sunset.

2. Dengue fever symptoms

Dengue symptoms are mostly similar to the indications of flu, therefore are usually unnoticed. People with slight signs of dengue are known to mix it with other illnesses that instigate fever and pain.
Check the following if you are suspecting dengue, 

• High Fever 
• Severe Headaches
• Discomfort behind eyes
• Nausea and vomiting
• Inflamed glands
• Severe joint and muscle aching
• Skin Rashes

A person affected by dengue will have at least two of the dengue symptoms along with a high fever. Dengue fever can result in a fall in white blood cell and platelet counts. A normal human platelet count in the body ranges from 1.5 to 4 lacs, while for a dengue patient this can go down to as low as 20,000. The reasons for this drop are:

• the platelet-producing center of the body, bone marrow is damaged by dengue
• The dengue virus can harm your blood cells and drop your platelets.
• Dengue also produces antibodies that decrease platelets.

3. Dengue fever cycle

If your dengue symptoms are mild, it can disappear within a week without much harm to the body, however, in some cases, it takes a more severe form and extreme symptoms start to develop 3 to 7 days after the first sign of illness. Even if fever subsides, this does not guarantee that the person is getting better. Instead, it is crucial to look out for the below warning signals and must be taken to ER immediately

• Extreme abdominal pain
• Continued vomiting
• Bleeding gums
• Puking blood
• Fast breathing
• Fatigue and restlessness

4. Dengue fever diagnosis

Diseases like malaria, typhoid or leptospirosis have similar symptoms to that of dengue. A routine blood test and in extreme cases other blood tests can be conducted by the doctor to diagnose dengue. There is no particular medication for dengue but your doctor may ask questions about any foreign travel to places that are dengue hotspots to focus their diagnosis.

5. Prevention from Dengue fever
   Dengue fever is a serious concern that can be easily avoided by following the basic lifestyle and household modifications:

• The most important step is to protect yourself from mosquito bites during the first week of disease to prevent your family and friends from contracting dengue. 
• drink a lot of fluids to stay hydrated
• Consume fruits like pomegranates when you’re recovering from dengue as it assists to increase your alarming hemoglobin counts 
• Consumption of vitamin C-rich fruits enhances cellular immunity even more.

If you are encountering any of the severe dengue symptoms listed above, seek medical assistance at your nearest clinic as quickly as possible or if you would like to find or consult our best pharmacist, you can book an appointment with us.
We are also providing an excellent herbal solution called “Karika Medicine ” to enhance and increase platelets. I highly encourage you to give it a try.