It’s all over the news – the Internet, the television, the newspapers, the radio. Even the self-confessed pundits in your neighborhood barber shop are probably talking about it.
Yes, dengue is on the rise, and are you doing anything to safeguard yourself and your family from this potentially fatal disease?
What is dengue?
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is most prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries like the Philippines. Dengue is not contagious. It can only be contracted from an Aedes Aegypti mosquito that had previously bitten an infected person.
Image courtesy of Surachai / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Symptoms of dengue include:
- headache
- fever
- exhaustion
- severe joint and muscle pain
- skin rash
- swollen glands
Additional information you need to know about dengue:
- There are four different types of dengue-causing viruses, making it possible for a person to contract dengue multiple times in a lifetime.
- There is no cure for dengue, and there is still no vaccine available against the disease. Lose not hope, however, Sanofi-Pasteur, the vaccination division of the pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi-Aventis, is nearing the final phases of its clinical trials for the development of a dengue vaccine, and a rollout out may be imminent within the next couple of years.
But until then, as the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure.
Dengue prevention checklist
Here is a list of some of the things you can do to prevent your family from contracting dengue:
- Expose less skin. The likelihood of a person getting bitten by a carrier mosquito is lessened by wearing more clothing.
- Use mosquito nets and repellents. Your reliable mosquito-shooing katol from your next-door neighbor’s sari-sari store may not be so reliable anymore the moment it triggers a respiratory ailment.
- Install barriers like screens or nettings on your windows.
- Try to avoid being outside two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset because that is when the mosquitoes usually feed.
- Frequently check and remove stagnant water from your household premises. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito breeds in clean but stagnant water. Overturn pails, pots and other water receptacles when not in use so water wouldn’t accumulate in them.
- Boost your child’s immune system. Children 12 years old and below are more vulnerable to illness, so proper diet, enough sleep and exercise, plus a daily dose of vitamins and minerals is a must.
Types of dengue
- There are three types of dengue, depending on severity:
- mild dengue fever
- dengue hemorrhagic fever or DHF
- dengue shock syndrome
The last two, if left untreated, can be deadly.
If you ask me, it’s okay to be paranoid these days, especially if your health and that of your family is the one at stake. At the first warning sign, rush to the nearest hospital because prompt diagnosis and treatment is of vital importance and may be the thin line between life and, God forbid, death.
More information on dengue can be found here.
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