DENGUE FEVER

Dengue fever is an acute febrile viral illness presenting with headache, bone or joint and muscular pains. Rash and leukopenia caused by arthropod-borne viruses.Dengeu hemorrhagic fever is characterized by four major manifestations high grade fever, hemorrhagic phenomenon often with signs of circulatory failure. Such patients may develop hypovolemic shock resulting from plasma package this is called as dengue shock syndrome and it can be fatal .Children under the age of 15 years are mostly infected by this disease. Dengue virus infects the peripheral blood mononuclear cells within a few days of infective mosquito bite.Aedes aegypti mosquito is the principal vector this mosquito lives indoors and bites the host during daytime. Aedes aegypti has a short flight range and therefore infection is spread through the movement of patients with viremia rather than that of the mosquito, this disease is widely prevalent in cities with higher population density. Incubation period for this fever is around 2-7 days. There are non-specific symptoms such as anorxia, bad taste in the mouth and vomiting.There is no specific antiviral treatment for this disease.The patients are closely monitored for vital signs and the fluid intake should be maintained despite vomiting and bad taste in the mouth. Strategies for prevention and control include breaking the transmission cycle of Aedes aegypti and by holding the mosquito population at extremely low levels. Community participation should be sought for keeping water storage containers such as overhead tanks, desert coolers,etc. Free of mosquitos