Dengue fever is a dangerous infectious disease with a rapid spread that can easily lead to an outbreak. Children are the most vulnerable to dengue fever, and if not detected and treated in a timely manner, it can lead to many dangerous complications, even death.
Seasonal weather changes also bring about the appearance of dangerous diseases in children, such as rashes, dengue fever, and hand-foot-mouth disease… Dengue fever is one of the most severe diseases. Parents need to recognize some symptoms of dengue fever in children to promptly detect and take them for examination and treatment, thus preventing serious complications.
Dr. Tran Van Ban – Head of the Pediatric Department at Hong Ngoc Hospital states: “If a child has dengue fever, the initial symptoms will be a sudden high fever, continuously ranging from 39 to 40 degrees Celsius, lasting 2 to 7 days with no signs of improvement despite using antipyretics. When the fever subsides, red spots or bruises may appear on the skin, sometimes accompanied by bleeding in mucous membranes, such as bleeding gums, nosebleeds, red eyes, along with abdominal pain and vomiting. To check if your child has dengue fever, mothers can press on the tiny red spots; if they do not fade, it could be a rash due to dengue fever.”
In addition, dengue fever is often confused with other diseases such as rashes, viruses, and respiratory infections…
So, how can we differentiate dengue fever? What are the methods to prevent dengue fever in children?
Understanding Dengue Fever
Dengue fever is an acute infectious disease caused by the Dengue virus, and it is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The mosquito bites an infected person and then bites a healthy person, spreading the disease.
The disease occurs year-round but often leads to large outbreaks during the rainy season, from April to November each year.
Dengue fever is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. (Illustrative image)
Symptoms of Dengue Fever in Children
Mild Form:
- Sudden high fever over 38oC, lasting for 2 to 7 days.
- Difficulty in reducing fever, severe headache in the forehead region.
- Muscle and joint pain.
- Pain behind the eyes, possible rash symptoms.
- No accompanying cough, runny nose, or diarrhea.
- Infants often refuse to breastfeed and are irritable…
- Rash spots (hemorrhagic spots) usually appear 3 days after fever, emerging on arms, legs, and torso, small like mosquito bites, round, non-itchy, and do not disappear when the skin is stretched or pressed.
Children with dengue fever develop rashes on the arms, legs, and torso. (Illustrative image)
Note: Children aged 4-5 years in the early days of fever with rash may be easily mistaken for viral fever or infectious fever.
Severe Form:
- Sudden high fever over 38oC.
- Severe headache in the forehead region, eye pain.
- Skin hemorrhage.
- Abdominal pain, nausea, cold limbs, restlessness, panic…
- Nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bruising at injection sites, vomiting blood, black stools…
Mothers should remember the onset date of their child’s fever and the symptoms to inform the doctor and focus on children showing the aforementioned signs to quickly recognize dengue fever. Take your child for daily check-ups and whenever there are unusual symptoms like lethargy, frequent vomiting, severe abdominal pain, heavy bleeding, or cold limbs. Early diagnosis and timely hospital visits will yield the best treatment results for dengue fever.
Causes
- Caused by the Dengue virus.
- The Aedes mosquito is the source of the disease transmission.
How Dangerous is Dengue Fever?
- Decreases productivity, impacts health.
- The disease can lead to large-scale outbreaks.
- Delayed detection can lead to shock, gastrointestinal bleeding, cerebral hemorrhage, cardiovascular collapse, paralysis, coma, and death.
Caring for Children with Dengue Fever
Care Regimen
- Dress them in light, bright clothing to promote ventilation.
- Food: Provide children with liquid, nutritious, easily digestible foods such as porridge, soup, and milk, and offer multiple small meals.
- Drinks: Encourage children to drink more than usual. Recommended drinks include plain water, cooled boiled water, fruit juices: orange juice, lemon juice, or oral rehydration solution diluted in 1 liter of boiled water to drink gradually.
- Vitamins: Children need additional vitamins A, B, and C to enhance metabolic activity and boost immunity and resistance against diseases.
Encourage children to drink plenty of water, eat fruits, and digestible foods. (Illustrative image)
Medications Used
- Antipyretics: Paracetamol: 15mg/kg body weight (750mg for a 50kg individual), 2-3 times a day.
- Prioritize oral rehydration (oral rehydration solution).
- Intravenous fluids as directed by a doctor.
Prohibited Medications
- Aspirin should not be used for both adults and children (as it can cause brain swelling and increase acidity, leading to gastrointestinal bleeding).
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should not be used (as they exacerbate bleeding during dengue fever).
Preventive Measures Against Dengue Fever for Children
- Cover water storage containers tightly to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.
- Introduce fish into all water containers in the house to eat mosquito larvae.
- Scrub and change water in containers once a week.
- Collect waste around the house and turn over any items that can hold water.
- Dress children in long-sleeved clothing.
Ensure children sleep under a mosquito net to prevent bites. (Illustrative image)
- Use a mosquito net while sleeping (even during the day).
- Eliminate mosquitoes using chemicals like sprays, mosquito nets, incense, mosquito repellent sprays, or creams…
- Ensure a balanced diet and nutrition to enhance children’s resistance.
Conclusion
Dengue fever is a virus-transmitted disease primarily spread by mosquitoes. If not detected in a timely manner, dengue fever can lead to dangerous complications, even death; therefore, caution is necessary to avoid confusion with rash illnesses.
In recent years, this disease has become a significant public health concern and has turned into an epidemic in 100 countries across Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific… The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 50 to 100 million people contract the disease each year.
Therefore, to protect the health of ourselves and our families, we need to maintain clean living environments, avoid stagnant water in containers, sleep under mosquito nets, and wear long clothing to prevent mosquito bites. Additionally, ensure a balanced diet and engage in regular exercise to boost the body’s resistance.
