As you may well be aware, dengue cases are on the rise in West Bengal, with close to 840 cases being reported according to the state health officials. Several districts such as Howrah, Kolkata and Hooghly have reported cases.
Rising Care, elderly care Kolkata, shares with you some of the details of dengue fever and what you can do with regards to it.
Hence, on that note, let’s delve deeper into the details of what exactly is dengue and how you can take preventive measures to be safe from the condition.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne illness. It can be one of four types of DENV virus and is closely related to the viruses that cause yellow fever and the West Nile infection. It typically affects those who are living in tropical countries. Around 400 million infections occur every year. Dengue is a very severe and debilitating disease that requires immediate treatment and care.
Below is a graph that shows what takes place 4-10 days after the mosquito bite. Temperatures reach up to 40 C in the first 2 days of the febrile stage and then shock bleeding or organ impairment may occur in the critical stage. If the patient makes it through the critical stage, steady recovery is on the horizon as platelet count increases.
Symptoms of dengue begin after 4 to 6 days after infection and usually last around 10 days. They are:
Sometimes, the symptoms are mild and can be mistaken for the flu or other infections. However, in some extreme cases, the body may go into dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which includes dengue hemorrhagic fever, damage to lymph and blood vessels, bleeding from nose and gums, and enlargement of liver.
The dengue is diagnosed by testing the blood for the virus or the antibodies. You need to consult with a doctor, drink plenty of fluids and see your doctor. There is no cure for dengue and you have to rely on your body to produce antibodies to combat the disease.
A lot more attention must be paid to senior citizens as they suffer severely from the illness and are at a higher risk of death. The elderly people may need to be hospitalized and have more comorbidity such as renal failure and hypertension.
Following are the warning signs:
Checking for Dengue NS1 antigen with Dengue IgG (antibody) is also important to understand any previous infection. Initially only dengue NS1 antigen needs to be checked along with Dengue IgG antibody to understand the presence of antibodies secondary to previous infection. Only after Day 5 of symptom onset ( Fever ) we may check Dengue IgM antibody.
Hence, senior citizens need to be more careful of the disease. Some of the ways in which they can prevent the onset of the disease is by using mosquito nets and other repellants. Furthermore, you can make use of mosquito nets and prevent water from stagnating at any part of your home so the female Aedes mosquito does proliferate.
