| Question:
Dengue fever came in a big way to Bangladesh major cities in 2000. Will
it come again in the similar way?
Answer: Past record indicates
that dengue virus once break out in large scale in any area does not
leave before 9-10 years.
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Question:
What
is the flying range of Aedes?
Answer: A radius of 50 meters
or 164 feet (equivalent to about 17 storied building) from the breeding
site. Density of mosquitoes drops sharply above 10 or 50 meters.
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Question:
How to
protect oneself from bite?
Answer: Wear long sleeve
dress with mild colour in day time, especially one hour after sunrise
& one hour before sunset. Dark colour dress attracts mosquitoes.
Take nap under mosquito net. Spray rooms especially on the darker places
behind furniture and curtains, turn off the fans before spray and close
the rooms for half an hour before entering. Take a close look at the
mosquito sitting on you or give a passing glance to know if aedes is
around. Aedes is very distinctive with its very dark colour & white
stripes on its legs and throax (see picture in the index page).
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Question:
Where
and how do aedes breed?
Answer: Both aedes aegypti
and aedes albopictus are essentially urban and exclusively feed on
humans, living around human habitation, breeding in small pockets of
water, tree holes, bamboo stumps, leaf axils, flower pots, water jars,
tin cans, old tyres. Eggs can survive on damp surfaces or in mud and can
withstand desiccation well, eventually hatching with periods of rain.
This mechanism allows them to survive in dry seasons. Hence if you have
aedes around your house, it is not enough simply to empty breeding
sites, but you need to scour the surfaces briefly with a scrubbing brush
to detach larvae and eggs.
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Question:
What
most one should do with dengue fever?
Answer: Take paracetamol
(never aspirin) and take frequent orsaline. Drink a lot. Take record of
body temperature every 6 hours and notice when it becomes normal.
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Question:
When
to move to hospital/clinic and what measures to take?
Answer: Critical period for
DHF victims starts from the time of normal temperature up to 72 hours.
Move to hospital/clinic before temperature reaches normal since one does
not know at what rate/speed the blood platelets will fall. Take a dengue
test and make platelet counts 2/3 times a day to monitor counts. Keep
blood donors stand by and ask them to give bloods when platelet counts
fall below 50.000.
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Question:
How & when can one start suspecting dengue fever?
Answer:
First, the temperature will rise straight to 103-105°F and never fall
below 103° for at least 2 days. This range of temperature will continue
for 2-7 days.
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Question:
What to do most during the fever?
Answer:
Take paracetamol (NEVER aspirin), lots of fluid (water, fresh juice,
ORSALINE) frequently and stay always within the mosquito net.
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Question:
What are the symptomatic differences between a classical dengue fever
and a haemorrhagic dengue fever?
Answer:
Classical fever will not necessarily show the symptoms of haemorrhagic
fever. Clearly visible symptoms for haemorrhagic fever are inter alia:
1.
Red coloured rash on the skin surface. It can be anywhere in the body
and appears from day 3 onwards. Check carefully all hidden and exposed
parts of the body.
2.
Blood will flow from tooth gum while washing mouth or even without. Blood
clotting may be seen on the eyes white surface. Notice them carefully.
3.
Regular stool colour will become blackish thus confirming bleeding. Watch
carefully the colour.
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Question:
What to do next after haemorrhagic condition is identified?
Answer:
Move immediately to a clinic/hospital before fever falls down to normal
and start mobilising blood donors. Remember to stay always inside the net.
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Question:
When starts the critical/danger period for a person with dengue
haemorrhagic fever?
Answer:
48-72 hours from the moment body temperature becomes normal (no fever).
It's
important to record in a piece of paper and monitor temperature quite
often, perhaps every 3 hours from the beginning. The period is called
critical or dangerous since the rate of fall of blood platelets within 72
hours is still very much unpredictable and death occurs at this stage.
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Question:
What are the main pathological tests to confirm dengue virus?
Answer:
Elisa/Antibody test (IgG and IgM) and Platelet Counts (PC). Normal range
of PC is 150.000 - 500.000.
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Question:
Other than destroying aedes breeding sites, what else one can use
personally as preventive measures?
Answer:
Use the following tools/medicine:
1.
Mosquito reppelent. Different brands and forms (cream, roll-on, spray)
are available in the market to apply on exposed skin during day time.
2.
Mosquito racket. AA size battery operated Korean made rackets are very
handy to kill mosquitoes and to check the presence of aedes around you.
3.
Eupator Perf 200. This is a homaeopathic medicine available in all homaeo
dispensaries. Take 5 pieces every morning in empty stomach and continue
until the dengue season is over in october.
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