Mosquitoes are one of the lightest as well as the deadliest creatures on the Earth. An interesting fact is, most people lose their lives not in accidents or crime but because of these mosquitos. Before discussing Dengue Fever in Pakistan, let’s have a glance at Malaria. According to the World Health Organization, around 400,000 people lose their lives to Malaria every year while approximately 200 million people are infected by it. Let’s talk about Dengue fever that has been infecting people around the world for around 3 centuries.
Every year around 100 to 400 million people are infected with the dengue virus around the world. A rise in dengue cases was observed in the early 1950s when its epidemic struck in countries like the Philippines and Thailand. The majority of the cases of dengue fever are in South Asian, Asia-Pacific and South American countries, which are mostly tropical. It is better to know everything from symptoms of dengue to its prevention.
What do you know about Dengue Fever?
Aedes Aegypti (Male) is known as Dengue Mosquito, a type that spreads Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and a few other viruses. As we have mentioned above, this mosquito has been infecting humans and some animals for more than 300 years. A viral disease that spreads by the bite of a female mosquito (Aedes Albopictus). In other words, it is also called Asian Tiger Mosquito. Furthermore, dengue fever is a viral disease that lasts for 7-10 days with several symptoms. In the worst case, it could turn into Dengue-Hemorrhagic fever. This stage is found in rare cases, which leads to severe internal bleeding.
What are the Symptoms of Dengue Fever?
Dengue fever’s symptoms are similar to malaria with some exceptions. Important thing is that the symptoms take a few days to show after the bite of the dengue mosquito. They start slowly with fatigue in the entire body to skin rash in dengue fever.
Symptoms of Dengue Fever
- High fever
- Pain behind the eyes
- Joints and muscular pain
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Skin rashes (In extremely-low platelets)
- A frequent decline in blood platelets (In test reports)
- Blood from nose and phlegm (In the extreme case when platelets drop below 100,000)
If you are facing some of the above symptoms, you need to have a dengue test as well as CBC (Complete Blood Count) test. Test of dengue will withdraw your doubts while the CBC test will show blood platelets count. The average count of blood platelets is between 150,000 – 450,000. If your platelets are below 150,000 or even 200,000, it could be the 2nd stage of the dengue virus.
How Does Dengue Mosquito Look Like?
An ordinary mosquito looks for its prey after sunset but the case is different in dengue mosquitoes. Dengue mosquito is active from sunrise to sunset. If you want to know how to identify dengue mosquitoes or how does dengue mosquito look like, you can clearly identify them, especially on a dark surface. Here are some features of it.
- Black and white stripes on legs
- Darker colour than a normal mosquito
- Black and white dots on the back.
- It will appear in the daytime only.
What are Causes of Dengue Virus in Pakistan?
It spreads through a number of ways. The causes of the dengue virus in Pakistan are normally a bite of dengue mosquito but there is also a secondary reason. In another case, an infected person becomes a feeding point. If a normal mosquito bites a dengue patient, that mosquito can become a carrier of the dengue virus. In this way, both dengue and normal mosquitoes can spread the dengue virus. In addition, places where these mosquitoes lay their eggs are water-filled vessels or cavities. For instance, an uncovered water tank, birdbath, AC/refrigerator tray, plant pots, and water buckets.
What is the Treatment of Dengue Fever in Pakistan?
So far, there is no specific medicine or a dengue fever vaccine for dengue, like the Corona vaccine to treat the Covid-19. But there are some ways to cope with dengue fever and platelets problem. It only requires a few ways to improve a patient’s health so they can survive.
Treatment of Dengue
- Intake of water and juices like carrot, apple and beetroot.
- Green vegetables and citrus fruits.
- Platelets enhancing syrups or tablets (Latest)
- Take paracetamol to control fever that occurs for 3-4 few days.
- Use a net to cover the bed so any mosquito can’t reach you.
- Apply mosquito repellent on your skin.
- Take lots of rest.
- Drink papaya leaves extracts with juices.
- Take foods that are rich in protein and fibre to recover quickly.
- Avoid using electronic devices like smartphones and laptops to rest the eyes.
The intake of juices and water will maintain the blood platelets level as well as flush the dengue virus through frequent urination. The more a patient drinks juices, the earlier the recovery can be attained. The First 6-7 days are crucial when the patient needs to maintain a diet because blood platelets drop so frequently and the body suffers a lot. Make sure your home is clean and properly fumigated most of the time to prevent diseases from entering your home. You may try this home cleaning guide before you start cleaning your home.
How to Increase Platelet Count in Dengue?
Many patients start searching for ways to increase platelet count in dengue because they are in a panic about losing them every day. You don’t need to worry anymore; we have some easy ways to increase the count of blood platelets.
- Eat green vegetables like spinach, cabbage, romaine lettuce and okra.
- Beetroots and carrots.
- Apple, beetroot and carrot Juice
- Lots of water
- Fruits of vitamin C like orange, lemon and grapefruit.
How to Naturally Cure Dengue Fever in Pakistan?
First of all, you need to keep updating yourself with your platelets count. Furthermore, you have to get a CBC test after every 1 or 2 days to see the platelets level. As we have mentioned above, there is no specific medicine for dengue fever. Furthermore, we have provided the dengue treatment above. You can use that simple treatment to recover quickly. Dengue virus stays for around 7-10 days. Meanwhile, the patient has to take rest, maintain a diet and drink juices. That is all a patient needs to do to fight dengue. After a complete recovery, you can continue your daily tasks like before, whether you want to try home gardening or anything you love.
How to Prevent Dengue at Home?
Prevention is better than cure” is a famous Dutch phrase that speaks itself. If you know how to avoid dengue fever, you will be able to save many lives. Here are some tips to prevent this dengue virus in Pakistan.
- Spray pesticides in the neighbourhood or at least inside your home.
- Cover all the vessels, trays and pots that contain water. (i.e. water tank, birdbath, pool, plant pots, commode, and buckets).
- Add some drops of safe chemicals (i.e. Chloroxylenol) in AC/refrigerator tray and buckets that cannot be covered.
- Use mosquito repellents in the daytime.
- Apply net on windows and gates.
Conclusion
Since, Dengue fever in Pakistan is at its peak just like Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, it is spreading in other countries as well. Rising cases in Pakistan and India have alerted the South Asian region too. With some preventive measures and treatment, we can exterminate this dengue virus in Pakistan soon. Another thing that is a big concern is COVID19 and its variants,
