Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases, found in the tropics, with a geographical spread similar to malaria. Caused by one of four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae, each serotype is sufficiently different that there is no cross-protection and epidemics caused by multiple serotypes (hyperendemicity) can occur. Dengue is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti (rarely Aedes albopictus) mosquito, which feeds during the day.

Signs and symptoms

This infectious disease is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias - severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease) and rashes; the dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechia and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest - in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Some cases develop much milder symptoms, which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection. Thus, travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can only pass on the infection through mosquitoes or blood products while they are still febrile.

The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the fever (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal.

Cases of DHF also show higher fever, haemorrhagic phenomena, thrombocytopenia and haemoconcentration. A small proportion of cases lead to dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which has a high mortality rate.

Treatment

The mainstay of treatment is supportive therapy. Increased oral fluid intake is recommended to prevent dehydration. If the patient is unable to maintain oral intake, supplementation with intravenous fluids may be necessary to prevent dehydration and significant hemoconcentration. A platelet transfusion is rarely indicated if the platelet level drops significantly (below 20,000) or if there is significant bleeding.

The presence of melena may indicate internal gastrointestinal bleeding requiring platelet and/or red blood cell transfusion.

It is very important to avoid Aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. These drugs are often used to treat pain and fever, but in this case, they may actually aggravate the bleeding tendency associated with some of these infections. If dengue is suspected, patients should receive instead acetaminophen preparations to deal with these symptoms

Taken from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Why i'm posting this is because I have just went to test for Dengue again for the 3rd time in 10 months. Malaysia is the 3rd highest cases in the whole world in the year of 2005 with about 33,000 cases reported. In my condo which i am staying, there have also been a number of cases reported. Sometimes i see those lories going over to smoke the whole condo. Im not sure about the other block but my block has been smoked for a number of times already.

Doctor says that Dengue actually will NOT kill you if you EAT normally and drink lots of water. We musnt let ourself dehydrate as this will fasten the growing or multiplication of the dengue cells. Even if we have no apetite or having diarrhea, we must keep eating normally and drink lots of water.

This is a blood cell of a person with dengue would look like:

Oh ya. You guys must be wondering about the results of my blood test. Well, Its negative for now. Why? Doctor says that i have the symtoms of a dengue but still there is no signs of dengue in my blood. And my blood count is also normal. Doc says red spots might be viral infection if it is not dengue. My family thinks it could be measels or allergy because now it itches so much...argh...*scratch scratch* So if i get any worse, then i might be admited to the hospital. i just drank about 1 litres of water and my throat still feels dry...oh gosh...im so full of water...and now my aunt is making this tea which makes you sweat...err..i dont have fever, do i need to sweat...

Ok, off i go to drink those stuffs....bye peeps...