NAME : ELLIA FAZIRA BT BAHASHAH

ID : PTM 140716837

The Strike Of Dengue Fears Malaysians

What is Dengue Fever?

                

• Dengue Fever is a viral disease that causes fever, headache, eye pain, muscle pain, joint pain, a runny nose, a sore throat, and a rash. In children younger than 15, a more severe Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever can develop and can be fatal. It is caused by one of four viruses and is spread by the same mosquito that causes yellow fever, the aedes aegypti mosquito.    

How Does a Person Get Dengue Fever?

     
• The only way to get Dengue Fever is to be bitten by a mosquito that is carrying the virus. The mosquito became infected after biting a person or a monkey who has had the fever for fewer than three days. It takes 8 to 11 days for the disease to incubate in the mosquito. After that, if it bites you, you can catch it. Three to six days after being bitten, the person gets sick. The rash starts on the fifth day.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
• Symptoms of dengue 
  Symptoms usually develop from 3-14 days after being exposed to the dengue virus (the incubation period); the average incubation period is around 4-7 days.
  Symptoms usually begin with a sudden high temperature (fever) which can reach as high as 41ºC (105.8ºF).
  Other symptoms include:
  • severe headache
  • eye pain; specifically pain behind the eyes
  • severe aching in your bones and joints (dengue is also known as ‘breakbone fever’)
  • severe muscle pain of the lower back, arms and legs
  • abdominal pain, feeling sick and being sick
  • chills (shivering)
  • flat red skin rash
  • facial flushing
  • loss of appetite
  • sore throat
  • abnormal bleeding, such as nosebleeds, bleeding gums and/or blood in your urine
  Symptoms usually pass within a couple of weeks, but it can take several more weeks to make a full recovery. It is common to feel very tired when recovering from this type of infection.
  
  

  Treatment for Dengue Fever

  There is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection. If you think you may have dengue fever, you should use pain relievers with acetaminophen and avoid medicines with aspirin, which could worsen bleeding. You should also rest, drink plenty of fluids, and see your doctor. If you start to feel worse in the first 24 hours after your fever goes down, you should get to a hospital immediately to be checked for complications.
   
  
  The transmission of the virus to mosquitoes must be interrupted to prevent the illness. To this end, patients are kept under mosquito netting until the second bout of fever is over and they are no longer contagious.
  The prevention of dengue requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue. In nations plagued by dengue fever, people are urged to empty stagnant water from old tires, trash cans, and flower pots. Governmental initiatives to decrease mosquitoes also help to keep the disease in check but have been poorly effective.
  To prevent mosquito bites, wear long pants and long sleeves. For personal protection, use mosquito repellant sprays that contain DEET when visiting places where dengue is endemic. Limiting exposure to mosquitoes by avoiding standing water and staying indoors two hours after sunrise and before sunset will help. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a daytime biter with peak periods of biting around sunrise and sunset. It may bite at any time of the day and is often hidden inside homes or other dwellings, especially in urban areas.
  There is currently no vaccine available for dengue fever. There is a vaccine undergoing clinical trials, but it is too early to tell if it will be safe or effective. Early results of clinical trials show that a vaccine may be available by 2012.
  
  
   
• How Can Dengue Fever Be Prevented?
  • Currently, there is no Dengue Fever vaccine available, although one is being tested. The only sure way to prevent the disease is to kill the mosquitoes. To be sure, if you are traveling in an area where you are at risk for Dengue Fever, wear mosquito repellent that contains at least 20 percent DEET.