With dengue spreading across the country, medicine and public-health specialists have advised understanding the difference between ordinary fever and dengue fever and taking medicines with care. In their view, only paracetamol-type medicines should be taken for an ordinary fever. Headache, pain all over the body, pain in the joints and a rash on the skin, along with fever, are signs of dengue fever.
If such symptoms appear, aspirin-type medicines must be avoided. In such cases doctors have advised not to take antibiotics of any kind.
Advising people to be alert rather than anxious about dengue, public-health specialists and others said the main key to controlling dengue is caution and public awareness. Preventing the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, staying protected from mosquito bites and quickly seeking a doctor’s advice when dengue symptoms appear are the most effective ways to control dengue.
The Directorate General of Health Services has already identified 59 wards of the two city corporations of the capital, Dhaka, as high-risk dengue areas. In this situation the government has also taken various steps to prevent dengue. Up to 23 July this year, 39 people have died of dengue across the country. A total of 12,020 people have been infected. So far this year, 10,911 dengue patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital.
On dengue treatment, the associate professor of the medicine department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Dr Hasan Hafizur Rahman, told BSS that only paracetamol should be taken for fever. Headache, pain all over the body, pain in the joints and a rash on the skin, along with fever, are signs of dengue fever. If such symptoms appear, antibiotics of any kind must be avoided.
He said it is safe to take treatment on a doctor’s advice. Do not buy and take any medicine from a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription, he said. When children have a fever, give them coconut water, sherbet and plenty of water to drink. He also advised dressing children in full trousers, full-sleeved shirts and socks when they go outside.
Public-health specialist Dr Lelin Chowdhury said several viruses are rising at once at present — corona, dengue, diarrhoea and others. Ordinary people are becoming confused about which disease is which. There is nothing to fear in this, he said; awareness is what is needed. As soon as symptoms appear, one should get tested and consult a doctor.
An adviser to the government’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Dr Mushtaq Hossain, told BSS: “Dengue happens every year, and we think it will not happen next year. We make a temporary arrangement and remain satisfied. Dengue cannot be tackled with the city corporations’ very small workforce. The city corporation’s people are only applying insecticide. The government will have to take the main initiative to control dengue.”
The eminent paediatrician and president of the BCS Health Forum, Professor Dr Mostafizur Rahman, said the Aedes mosquito is somewhat different in habit from ordinary mosquitoes. It prefers to live in urban areas rather than in the countryside. One of the main reasons is that the Aedes mosquito chooses shallow, clear water for breeding. It does not lay eggs in muddy or dirty water. As a result, clean water collecting in flower pots, containers kept on roofs or balconies, tyres and other small containers becomes an ideal breeding place for the Aedes mosquito.
He said the Aedes mosquito has a particular biological rhythm. The first two hours after sunrise and the two to three hours before sunset are its most active times. The Aedes mosquito’s tendency to bite is highest at these times. Special care should therefore be taken then, and mosquito-prevention measures adopted where necessary.
The director of the IEDCR, Dr Kazi Ahmed Zaki, said that because of the DENV-3 serotype there is also a growing tendency for complications such as dengue shock syndrome to appear quickly in patients. This can cause a patient’s condition to deteriorate rapidly.
He said the most effective way to control dengue is to destroy the breeding places of the Aedes mosquito. When fever occurs it must not be neglected; testing and treatment must be sought quickly. Alongside this, everyone must be careful that water does not collect anywhere around their homes.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report