We have been going through the coronavirus pandemic for over two years now, and thanks to the doctors and scientists, the situation is pretty under control. But, nowadays, again, people are coming to the hospital with fever, body pain, and rashes. The diagnosis is not COVID-19, and it is getting a troublesome matter for the health experts.
The diagnosis
Dengue is one of the most common viral diseases worldwide. It spreads through the infected female Aedes aegypti mosquito and can infect as many people as it bites during its lifetime. So, once dengue enters a community, it does not take long to start community transmission and infect as many people as possible at once.
Clinical representation
Classically a dengue patient will complain of high-grade fever for two to three days before coming to the hospital. But, these patients most prominently suffer from body pain. Shooting retroorbital pain or pain behind the eyeball is the classic presentation of dengue cases. Medical professionals use this clinical feature to differentiate dengue from other viral fevers or cases of flu.
Other features
Body rashes or purpura are other prominent features of dengue, and most people present with these rashes on their upper and lower limbs. But, these rashes can extend up to the abdomen and back of the body. You have to notice carefully if the purpura is palpable or not.
The rashes in dengue are not palpable and only visible. So, if you can feel the elevated surface of the rashes, it can indicate some other vascular diseases.
Laboratory investigation
Dengue usually appears as a community epidemic, and early diagnostic tests are beneficial to determine it. The Dengue NS1 antigen test is the rapid diagnostic test for detecting dengue, and it is specific in almost ninety-five to ninety-seven percent of cases.
But, you have to make sure to check for the tests within the first three to five days of fever. After five days, the antigen will disappear from the serum, and you will not be able to diagnose dengue effectively.
Other tests.
You must be wondering how to diagnose dengue if a person comes to the healthcare facilities after five days? We have to go for the antibody test. Serum immunoglobulin M is beneficial and sensitive to diagnose recent dengue cases. It means the person had dengue fever recently within a month, but they tested for it at least five days later.
Chronic cases
If you want to diagnose a dengue person, you can go for the serum immunoglobulin G to confirm your diagnosis. It is perfect in almost every case and helps to establish the clinical correlation with other diseases.
Complications
Dengue can be devastating if it does not heal naturally and proceed towards complications. Normal dengue fever causes bone-breaking pain and severe dehydration. So, if a person has dengue, then make sure to provide enough fluid orally or parenterally to prevent dehydration. If the doctors can not correct dehydration in time, it may lead to cellular damage and chronic complications.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever
Dengue fever alters our blood condition severely, and mostly the platelet count keeps going down. This platelet is responsible for maintaining the blood coagulation status, and If the platelet count goes below fifty thousand per cubic ML, it can cause spontaneous bleeding. It is one of the most common phenomena of dengue fever if the patient does not care for it properly.
Dengue shock syndrome
If the healthcare facility fails to treat the dengue hemorrhagic fever effectively, it will proceed to dengue shock syndrome. It is the most dangerous stage of dengue, where every vital organ starts to shut down serially.
