What medicine should I take for dengue fever?

Timely treatment of dengue fever can effectively avoid the serious consequences caused by dengue fever. Dengue fever is an infectious disease mainly caused by the dengue virus, which is most often caused by mosquito bites. Once dengue fever occurs in the patient's body, it will cause many clinical symptoms, such as headache, fever, eye pain, etc. What drugs should be used to control and treat dengue fever?

1. What medicine is needed for dengue fever?

There is no specific drug treatment at present, but there are reports that ribavirin can be used in the early stage, 10-15 mg/kg per day intravenous injection or intravenous drip, and half the dose after 4 days, with 6 days as a course of treatment. For those with bleeding: give hemostatic drugs such as anloxin, hemostatic, vitamin K, vitamin C, calcium, etc. For patients with severe upper gastrointestinal bleeding, ice saline or norepinephrine can be diluted and then gavaged, and cimetidine can be taken orally at the same time. In case of high fever, physical cooling should be used first. If the high fever persists or the symptoms of poisoning are severe, small doses of hormones can be used for a short period of time, such as oral prednisone 5 mg 3 times a day. Hibernation therapy can also be used. Analgesics and antipyretics should be used with caution, and sodium salicylate should be avoided. In case of severe muscle or joint pain, 0.3-0.5 grams of acetic acid or 0.03 grams of codeine can be taken orally. If necessary, 0.01 grams of morphine can also be injected intramuscularly. In case of vomiting, 0.5 mg of atropine sulfate can be injected subcutaneously. For patients with high fever, heavy sweating, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, and frequent vomiting, oral rehydration should be given first. If the patient cannot tolerate the rehydration, intravenous rehydration should be given.

2. Causes of dengue fever

2.1. Source of infection: Patients and latently infected persons are the main sources of infection, and no healthy virus carriers have been found. The patient has obvious viremia from 6 to 8 hours before onset to the 6th day of the disease, which can infect the biting Aedes mosquitoes. During the epidemic, the number of mild patients was 10 times that of typical patients, and latently infected people accounted for 1/3 of the population, which may be an important source of infection. Although monkeys in jungle and mountainous areas and some domestic animals in cities have serological evidence of dengue virus infection, they have not yet been identified as sources of infection.

2.2. Transmission medium: Aedes mosquito. There are 12 species of Aedes mosquito that are known to transmit this disease, but the most important ones are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The disease is mainly transmitted by Aedes albopictus in Guangdong and Guangxi, while it is mainly transmitted by Aedes aegypti in Leizhou Peninsula, coastal areas of Guangxi, Hainan Province and Southeast Asia. Aedes mosquitoes can be infected as long as they come into contact with infectious liquids once. The virus becomes contagious after replicating in the mosquito's body for 8 to 14 days, and the infectious period can be as long as 174 days. When an infectious Aedes mosquito bites a human, it transmits the virus to that human. Since dengue virus particles were detected in the ovaries of captured Aedes mosquitoes, it is speculated that Aedes mosquitoes may be the reservoir host of the virus.

3. Dengue fever prevention measures

3.1. First of all, we need to mobilize the entire community. Everyone should raise awareness of mosquito prevention and control. If you have flowers at home, you must remember to pour out the water in the flowerpots and change them at least twice a week to prevent mosquito larvae from breeding in the water. Install mosquito screens on the windows.

3.2. Several things need to be done to prevent dengue fever, including early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment. All of us, including medical personnel, must be aware of dengue fever and seek medical attention immediately if any abnormality is found. At the same time, the water in the fish tank should be changed at least twice a week. Be sure to wear mosquito repellent when going out.

3.3. The source of dengue fever is the white-striped mosquito, which we usually call the spotted mosquito. So if we see such a spotted mosquito, we should immediately burn or kill it with an electric mosquito swatter. We should close the mosquito net before going to bed every night, and kill the mosquitoes that have fed on blood, because mosquitoes will not reproduce without sucking blood.

Complications of dengue fever

1. Mental disorders: Some patients may suffer from infectious mental disorders, especially those with a family history of mental illness.

2. Myocarditis: Myocarditis may occur in severe cases, with the main symptoms being palpitations, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, and possible arrhythmias.

3. Liver function impairment: Mild liver function impairment is common, mainly manifested by mild liver enlargement, sharp edges, soft texture, and elevated ALT, AST and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT) in liver function tests. In severe cases, total bilirubin (TBIL) may increase and even hepatorenal syndrome may occur.

4. Uremia: It is more common in patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever. Massive bleeding or acute intravascular hemolysis can promote the occurrence of uremia.

5. Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be seen in patients with severe and dengue hemorrhagic fever, manifested by shortness of breath, distress, irritability, cyanosis, and dry and wet rales in both lungs.