Dengue Fever :- What is dengue fever? What causes dengue fever?
Dengue Fever :-
What is dengue fever? What causes dengue fever?
Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. It is an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes(lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence of fever, itchy rash, and headache (the "dengue triad") is characteristic of dengue. Other signs of dengue fever include bleeding gums, severe pain behind the eyes, and red palms and soles.
Dengue (pronounced DENG-gay) can affect anyone but tends to be more severe in people with compromised immune systems. Because it is caused by one of five serotypes of the dengue virus, it is possible to get dengue fever multiple times. However, an attack of dengue produces immunity for a lifetime to that particular viral serotype to which the patient was exposed.
Dengue goes by other names, including "breakbone fever" or "dandy fever." Victims of dengue often have contortions due to the intense pain in the joints, muscles, and bones, hence the name breakbone fever. Slaves in the West Indies who contracted dengue were said to have dandy fever because of their postures and gait.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a more severe form of the viral illness. Symptoms include headache, fever, rash, and evidence of bleeding (hemorrhage) in the body. Petechiae (small red spots or purple splotches or blisters under the skin), bleeding in the nose or gums, black stools, or easy bruising are all possible signs of hemorrhage. This form of dengue fever can be life-threatening and can progress to the most severe form of the illness, dengue shock syndrome.
What geographic areas are at high risk for contracting dengue fever:-
Dengue is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics. Outbreaks have occurred recently in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Central America. Cases have also been imported via tourists returning from areas with widespread dengue, including Tahiti, Singapore, the South Pacific, including the Philippines, Southeast Asia, the West Indies, India, and the Middle East (similar in distribution to the areas of the world that harbor malaria and yellow fever). Dengue is now the leading cause of acute febrile illness in U.S. travelers returning from the Caribbean, South America, and Asia.
- From January to July 2017, Sri Lanka reported 80,732 cases of dengue fever, with 215 deaths.
- New Delhi, India, reported an outbreak of dengue fever, with 1,872 testing positive for the illness in September 2015.
- In American Samoa, there were 370 cases of dengue reported from May 2015 to September 2, 2015, and 133 were hospitalized.
- Thailand reported the worst dengue outbreak in 20 years, with 126 deaths and 135,344 people infected with the virus, in October 2013.
- In 2011, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela reported a large number of dengue cases. Paraguay reported a dengue fever outbreak in 2011, the worst since 2007. Hospitals were overcrowded, and patients had elective surgeries canceled due to the outbreak.
How is dengue fever contracted? Is dengue fever contagious?
The virus is contracted from the bite of a striped Aedes aegypti mosquito that has previously bitten an infected person. The mosquito flourishes during rainy seasons but can breed in water-filled flower pots, plasticbags, and cans year-round. One mosquito bite can cause the disease.
The virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person. It is mosquito-borne, so there must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway. The full life cycle of the virus involves the mosquito as the vector (transmitter) and the human as the source of infection.
What is the incubation period for dengue fever?
After being bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, the incubation period for dengue fever ranges from three to 15 (usually five to eight) days before the signs and symptoms of dengue appear in stages.
What are dengue fever symptoms and signs?
Dengue fever starts with symptoms of chills, headache, pain in the back of the eyes that may worsen upon moving the eyes, appetite loss, feeling unwell (malaise), and low backache. Painful aching in the legs and joints occurs during the first hours of illness. The temperature rises quickly as high as 104 F (40 C), with relatively low heart rate (bradycardia) and low blood pressure (hypotension). The eyes become reddened. A flushing or pale pink rash comes over the face and then disappears. The lymph nodes in the neck and groin are often swollen.
High fever and other signs of dengue last for two to four days, followed by a rapid drop in body temperature (defervescence) with profuse sweating. This precedes a period with normal temperature and a sense of well-being that lasts about a day. A second rapid rise in temperature follows. A characteristic itchy rash (small red spots, called petechiae) appears along with the fever and spreads from the extremities to cover the entire body except the face. The palms and soles may be bright red and swollen.
What tests do health care providers use to diagnose dengue fever?
The diagnosis of dengue fever is usually made when a patient exhibits the typical clinical symptoms of headache, high fever, eye pain, severe muscle aches, and petechial rash and has a history of being in an area where dengue fever is endemic. Dengue fever can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms overlap with those of many other viral illnesses, such as West Nile virus and chikungunya fever.
Health care professionals may use a blood test called the DENV Detect IgM Capture ELISA to diagnose people with dengue fever. The FDA notes that the test may also give a positive result when a person has a closely related virus, such West Nile disease.
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