How to tell if common rash or dengue fever?

7 people died

The number of dengue fever cases in Ho Chi Minh City is still increasing. Recently, this city recorded 1 more dengue patient death, bringing the total number of dengue deaths to 7 cases since the beginning of the year. In the last week, the city had more than 900 cases of dengue fever…

City Children’s Hospital received a case of Tr. DA 7 years old, male, weight 38 kg, lives in Vinh Loc B, Binh Chanh. Taking the history recorded that the child had a high fever continuously for 1 day, convulsions, and cyanosis.

Here, the child was lethargic, comatose, convulsed all over the body, received respiratory support to prevent convulsions, given antipyretic drugs, the child stopped convulsions but was lethargic, gradually comatose, was intubated to help Ventilation, mechanical ventilation, anti-cerebral edema with mannitol 20% and Sodium Chloride 3%.

Blood tests showed that the child had an increase in Hct concentration, a decrease in platelets, a rapid test for NS1 antigen to diagnose dengue was positive, a CSF puncture showed biochemical results, and normal cells.

Diagnosis of cerebral hemorrhagic fever. By day 4 of illness, the infant was in shock with tachycardia, tachycardia, clamping blood pressure, intravenous anti-shock fluids, and invasive blood pressure and central venous pressure measurements to guide appropriate fluid administration and administration of vasopressors.

The child is in critical condition because of dengue fever.

Test results showed that the child had liver damage, coagulation disorders, metabolic acidosis, and hypoglycemia. Children are actively treated with mechanical ventilation, anti-shock fluids, anti-convulsants, anti-brain edema, liver support treatment such as adjusting blood sugar, electrolytes, and acid-base. After more than a week of treatment, the child’s condition improved gradually and was weaned from the ventilator.

Doctor Nguyen Minh Tien, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital, said that the hospital currently has 60 cases of dengue fever hospitalized for treatment, including 12 severe cases. Among the severe dengue cases being treated, many children are obese.

TS.BS. Nguyen Minh Tuan – Head of Dengue Department – Children’s Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City said that dengue fever is caused by Dengue virus. This virus has 4 different serotypes: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4.

Patients infected with any strain of the virus can only develop lifelong immunity to that virus strain. The vector of the disease is the mosquito, which is common in hot and humid climates, including Vietnam. Dengue fever can appear all year round, not only in the rainy season.

Accurately identify dengue fever

When someone has a fever, mosquitoes bite and transmit the virus to others and the incubation period can be 5 to 14 days.

Dengue fever usually has a high fever for 2 to 7 days, the skin is congested and red, the patient is often accompanied by signs of natural bleeding, these dots appear spontaneously, if you let go of the control arm, the skin will appear after 5 minutes. hemorrhagic nodules appear. In addition, children also have bleeding gums, vaginal bleeding.

Dr. Tuan said that dengue fever patients have fewer respiratory symptoms than Covid-19. When you have typhus, put pressure on the area where the rash is, if the dot loses color, it is a normal rash. If the pressure is on the bleeding but it is still red, it is because of the bleeding. Tests should be performed on the anterior forearm, forearm, anterior chest, and abdomen to clearly assess for bleeding or a common rash.

As for Covid-19, Dr. Tuan recommends more respiratory symptoms such as cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing, loss of taste and smell.

With dengue fever, you can do an antigen test, Covid-19 can quickly test whether you are infected with Covid-19 or not to distinguish the two diseases.

Parents need to monitor from time to time because dengue fever or shock, patients with abdominal pain, vomiting, mucosal bleeding… can have complications of liver failure, encephalopathy, central nervous system disease, prolonged hemorrhagic shock .

And Covid-19 is often related to the lungs, embolism at a later stage. Ideally, parents need to carefully monitor the signs from the beginning.

According to Doctor Tuan, the symptoms of dengue fever in adults and children are high fever, loss of appetite, body aches and petechiae.

However, children with severe complications are often shocked due to plasma shock causing coagulation disorders, liver function failure, multi-organ failure. Severe complications of adults with dengue fever such as gastrointestinal bleeding, menorrhagia, people with underlying diseases such as diabetes, chronic lung disease, cardiovascular disease can make the disease worse. If not treated promptly, complications can be life-threatening.

Khanh Chi