The young man almost died from dengue fever, the doctor just confused many people, causing the disease to get worse very quickly

Forecast of epidemic peak dengue will come later

Currently, the North in general and Hanoi in particular have begun to enter the rainy season, this is also the beginning of the season dengue fever epidemic. According to statistics from the Hanoi CDC, from May 14 to May 20, Hanoi recorded 15 cases of dengue fever in 10 districts (Ba Dinh, Ba Vi, Nam Tu Liem, Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, etc.) Me Linh, My Duc, Soc Son, Chuong My, Phuc Tho), an increase of 7 cases compared to the previous week. Accumulated from the beginning of 2022 until now, the city has recorded 47 cases of dengue fever, a decrease of about 50% compared to the same period in 2021.

Although the number of the same period compared to 2021 has decreased, experts warn, people should absolutely not be subjective. Doctor Nguyen Thu Huong, Head of the Department of Occupational Diseases (Thanh Nhan Hospital), said that according to the 5-year cycle, the epidemic peak occurs once, in 2022, the dengue epidemic will be in the right “peak” cycle (in 2017). peak has occurred).

However, this year due to the weather has many fluctuations, in particular, the time of May is still cold, so the epidemic may break out later, around July and August, so people absolutely do not should be subjective.

According to Doctor Huong, Thanh Nhan Hospital has now begun to receive a number of dengue fever cases requiring hospitalization, although the number of patients is not many, but there are some warning problems to avoid coming to the hospital. hospital in serious condition.

The male patient being treated at Thanh Nhan Hospital previously thought he had COVID-19 so he was late to the hospital.

Typically, a male patient is being treated at the hospital, hospitalized with a fever for 3 days because he subjectively has COIVD-19. When admitted to the hospital, the patient was very tired, the platelets decreased, but fortunately there was no internal bleeding, under the skin …

Not as fortunate as this case, a 26-year-old man was previously infected with dengue fever at the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2021), so he hesitated to visit the hospital. When the patient’s serious condition appeared, when he was admitted to the hospital, the patient’s platelet count dropped to almost zero, complicated by pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, and bleeding in many places. This case was later saved, but it was difficult to avoid long-term sequelae.

From the above cases, Dr. Huong warned, when people have abnormal signs, they need to go to a medical facility for examination, from which the doctor will specify whether they need to be hospitalized or not. “The most dangerous complication of dengue fever is thrombocytopenia, which leads to cerebral hemorrhage, subcutaneous hemorrhage, internal bleeding… In which, internal bleeding is very dangerous, with a high risk of death. “, shared doctor Huong.

Mistakes that make people with dengue worse

Confusing dengue fever with another disease

Doctor Huong said that many recent hospitalizations often confuse dengue fever with COVID-19. “When there is a fever, many people think they have COVID-19 so they are subjective, thinking that after receiving the vaccine, it will only take 1-2 days to get better. Even if the test is negative, it is even more reassuring. “This is really a very alarming problem, because the blood platelets drop rapidly if it is not treated, it will be very dangerous,” warned Dr. Huong.

Dengue fever is usually a high fever, accompanied by a severe headache. Illustration.

Because dengue fever and COVID-19 both have symptoms of fever and fatigue in the early stages, people need to pay attention to distinguish them. Specifically:

– With COVID-19, now that most people have been vaccinated, the symptoms will be mild, only feverish, usually below 39 degrees Celsius, the body is just a little sluggish, not a lot of pain. Moreover, COVID-19 can be tested quickly, if it is negative, you need to think about other problems, including dengue fever.

With dengue fever: Patients often have a very high fever, even above 40 degrees. In addition to body aches, muscle pain, there are also severe headaches. Moreover, dengue fever needs to be tested for blood to give accurate results. Dengue fever in the later stages can cause bleeding under the skin, bleeding gums, gastrointestinal bleeding…

“This does not mean that everyone with COVID-19 is mild, there are isolated cases of superinfection and severe symptoms. Therefore, when there is an abnormality in health, it is best to go to the hospital for the most accurate examination and diagnosis”, shared Dr.

Assuming that having had dengue fever will not come back

According to Dr. Huong, many people believe that once infected with dengue fever, they have immunity and do not catch it again. This is not true because dengue fever has many different types and can be repeated many times. Each disease is caused by a different type of virus, because the body only creates immunity to that type of virus but has not yet been able to fight the other types.

On a high floor, you are not afraid of mosquito bites, you do not get dengue fever

Residents of high-rise apartment buildings are often subjective, thinking that mosquitoes are only in humid areas and cannot go up to high floors, so they are not at risk of disease. Doctor Huong said that it is true that there are fewer mosquitoes at high floors than in low humidity areas, but it is not without mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can follow the elevator and hide in the house, even multiply and proliferate in water containers such as flowerpots, or water trays behind the refrigerator… “In the case of only one mosquito carrying Viruses that bite normal people can already cause disease, so we are not subjective,” warned Doctor Huong.

For room dengue, this expert advised people to clean the place of residence, turn the water container upside down, sleep under the net. If a mother has a young child with dengue fever, she should not stop breastfeeding, because dengue is transmitted through an intermediate host, which is a mosquito, not through breast milk.