Dengue Fever

faltura, RN · Aug 28, 2008

Hi! actually, Dengue Fever is here and now in my country. It is actually classified into stages and unlike the bird flu which has no fowl to person transmission yet, preparedness is needed. but with dengue, prevention and treatment is a must. i have seen a patient who had a platelet count of 10 and rashes all over. she had 4 bags of platelet concentrate to replenish the platelets but after 4bags, still the platelet count was 10. just clean ur surroundings and refrain from collecting and allowing water to stagnate. that's where aedis aegypti (vector mosquito) is known to live. however, i think u can't call it mosquito fever because malaria is transmitted by the anopheles mosquito (vector) and the west nile virus is also from a mosquito.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 28, 2008

My stepfather first told me about dengue - he fought in the S. Pacific in WW2 and told me firsthand about how how hellish it is. My dh is from Latin America and knows people who've had it as well, and it's not a walk in the park.

When I went to Haiti years ago, the people I was to stay with told me to pretreat all my clothes with mosquito repellent to decrease the chance of dengue, since there's really not much else you can do. (I was already taking malaria prophy.)

Some info from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/index.htm

faltura, RN · Aug 29, 2008

dengue can be prevented as long as the environment is clean, no stagnant water for them to thrive on. what i fear of is the west nile virus, there are admissions, actually 2 admissions of patients who traveled within california and new york who had the west nile virus. although there is no person to person spread still i think people from the said areas must beware and be aware. i read in the new york post that there's this 75 year old man who died and he was from nassau county. mosquitoes thrive in water so clean ur surroundings and have a mosquito repellant around if you need to like go out of the house and do some garden stuff. another thing, inside the house, make sure that the water in vases are changed everyday since dengue mosquito could also thrive to that area. what else... here in my country, there is this new strain of dengue wherein you do not develop fever but starts with rashes so if you feel something get to your nearest doctor for a check and dont wait til u bleed, otherwise it will be difficult to reverse... we'll be having a symposium on dengue fever as a project of our committee, the Infection Prevention adn Control Committee. i'll share with u feedbacks after. :)

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Aug 29, 2008

There are many vector-borne diseases that are making a comeback. I just read a book about the Yellow Fever epidemic in Memphis around the turn of the century, and it certainly serves as a cautionary tale for us today.

I know that many people are opposed to widespread spraying of DDT and other pesticides or draining wetlands, but in certain areas this may be necessary if trends continue. Scary!

glimpses · Nov 18, 2008

New Delhi also has had hundreds of cases of dengue fever in an outbreak over the past few months.

indigo girl · Nov 23, 2008

The War on Dengue Fever

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/health/04denguefever.html?_r=1&ref=health

They are working on a vaccine, but it sounds like a complicated

problem with four different types of dengue virus.

I did not realize that the US Army has research facility in Thailand

working on this and other "tropical" diseases.

The dengue virus is transmitted mainly by a mosquito called Aedes aegypti, which survives on human blood. Aedes rarely travels more than about 100 yards from its birthplace and thrives in populated areas.
The mosquito can breed in something as small as a soda bottle, but its ideal breeding conditions are large containers common in many parts of Southeast Asia to store drinking water. (Unlike other mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti prefers clean water, according to Thomas W. Scott, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who is a leading expert on the species.)
The mosquito cannot survive freezing weather, and though it is endemic to some parts of the United States, mainly the South, experts say good sanitation practices have kept it from spreading the dengue virus. It commonly lives inside people's homes, lingering in closets or curtains.
Scientists believe the disease has existed for centuries-an outbreak appears to have occurred in Philadelphia in 1780-but dengue has become more common and more virulent over the past half-century.

oramar · Nov 25, 2008

Oh you know, the other day someone was doing a show about native Americans south of our border and a disease that was endemic to them when the Spanish invaded. In addition to rashes it caused people to bleed out. The Aztecs were seemed well aware of it and called it "the Pest". At one time people questioned whether the Spanish brought the disease with them. However, careful study of records showed that the disease had afflicted indiginous peoples for a long time. At the time I did not make the connection to my own post. The authors of the documentary thought it was that Hunta disease, but I do not believe that mouse born Hunta disease causes bleeding.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 25, 2008

Yeah, I just looked at the CDC page on Hantavirus and it says zero about bleeding. Respiratory sx and abd pain, n/v, but nothing about bleeding.

indigo girl · Nov 26, 2008

Sometimes there is bleeding with Hantavirus.

http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V2/Hantavirus-Infections.html

oramar · Nov 27, 2008

Sometimes there is bleeding with Hantavirus.
http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V2/Hantavirus-Infections.html

Thankyou, that is interesting. I have seen medical shows about Hunta and they never mentioned the bleeding. They always talked about the respiratory problems.