HeMe #4 | Page 30

DENGUE Dengue fever is an acute illness caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted bite of by mosquitoes, infected with one of the four dengue virus serotypes. Dengue fever is also called, "breakbone" or "dandy fever." It is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults with symptoms showing 3-14 days after the infected mosquito bite. Headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), and rash are the main symptoms which can be found in any individual at sudden onset. The "dengue triad" is a very important characteristic of dengue; fever, rash, and headache. The sever form of Dengue is called “Dengue hemorrhagic fever”. It is characterized by fever, headache, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, black stools, bleeding (petechiae, blisters under the skin, bleeding in the nose or gums) and breathing difficulty. This