Don’t ignore dengue fever
Posted on: 11/Nov/2013 10:44:18 AM
One can escape from the wrath of dengue fever if treated at the right time without any delay. Doctors have been stressing on this every time. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infection transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
The mosquitoes usually are active from dawn to dusk but are on a feeding frenzy at sunrise and sunset, during rainy and cloudy weather, in dark areas, etc. This disease is very common in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Infected people have a high fever for 4 to 7 days.
Other symptoms of Dengue include:
High fever of about 40 deg C /104 deg F
Severe Headache
Pain behind the eyes
Muscle and Joint pains
Nausea
Loss of Appetite
Vomiting
Swollen glands and rashes
Dengue fever is caused by a virus and there is no specific treatment for this disease except medications that are used to treat fever.
With the increase in mosquito menace, doctors are seeing more dengue and Chikungunya cases in the city. Students of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital are taking up area-wise campaigns to create awareness on dengue prevention among residents.
According to hospital officials, they will be visiting areas in and around the hospital including Royapuram, R.K. Nagar, Vyasarpadi and Broadway.
The hospital has launched a vehicle for the awareness campaign. “We launched the campaign keeping in mind the rainy season. Our students and house surgeons will visit one area every day and impart information on preventing mosquito breeding at homes and in the surroundings. The public can approach government hospitals in case of dengue-like symptoms. The Stanley hospital has all facilities to handle dengue cases. We have set up fever wards with 10 beds each for male and female patients. The pediatric block has a separate fever ward with 10 beds. All the beds are provided with mosquito nets,” Dean S. Geethalakshmi said.
