DENGUE FEVER IN CHILDREN

By Dr. Himanshu Agarwal in Paediatrics (Ped)

Jul 06 , 2021 | 1 min read

Dengue is a viral infection spread by the bite of Aedes or tiger mosquito. This disease occurs in most parts of India, which starts in April and peaks during rainy season, from July to November.

Children are at high risk for dengue because of outdoor exposure and propensity of mosquitoes to bite children.

Symptoms start between 4-10 days after the bite. Classically, dengue symptoms starts as high grade fever, headache, body ache, pain behind the eyes, behind the neck and back, joint and leg pain. There can be abdominal pain, vomiting, red rash on the body or bleeding spots on the skin. The symptoms usually last for 3-10 days. Dengue can be diagnosed by simple blood tests.

Fever usually subsides after 2-7 days, but risk of complications is there for few days after fever subsides. If symptoms are mild, dengue can be managed at home under the guidance of your doctor. Danger signs in Dengue are weakness, giddiness, fainting, poor appetite, repeated vomiting and abdominal pain, decreased urine output, skin or mucosal bleeding, fall in BP and deranged vital signs. Rising Hematocrit with low Total leucocyte and low platelet counts can signify severe disease. Any child with the above danger signs should be immediately brought to the hospital, where timely and appropriate management can save a life.

At Max Hospital Gurgaon, we have an experienced team of Pediatricians, Pediatric intensivist and state of the art PICU to manage all cases of complicated and severe dengue with excellent results.