Dengue fever is a flu kind of illness spread by mosquito bites. Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by any of the dengue family virus. This is also widely known as 'Break bone fever' due to the severe joint pain caused during the attack. Dengue can be diagnosed by blood test. The infected person as such cannot spread the infection but can be a source to spread it.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is often complicated and severe. This rather can be termed as a complication dengue fever. Those bitten by the mosquito can get dengue fever and those already infected once if infected again are prone to higher risk of getting dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Dengue is an infectious disease causing frequent epidemics. There are various factors that contribute like lack of effective mosquito control, lack of public health systems to control the epidemic, the increase usage of plastic items which are the breeding sites of the mosquitoes.

Dengue is spread by the bite of an 'Ades' Mosquito. This mosquito bites the infected person and then bites someone else who is not affected thus transmitting the infection. These mosquitoes are active during the day time and spread the infection during day time. These mosquitoes live among human beings and breed in discarded tyres, flower pots, water stores etc.

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Dengue fever starts suddenly accompanied by headache, severe joint pain ,rashes, nausea and lack of appetite. The illness can last up to 10 days and the complete recovery could take about four to six weeks. Widely the dengue infections result in relatively mild illness however in some cases it may lead to the dengue hemorrhagic fever. In the complicated stage the blood vessels start to leak and cause bleeding through mouth, nose and gums. This is most prevalent among children and young adults. This stage requires close medical attention.

Treatment for Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic fever

As far as the treatment is concerned there is no specific course, However the affected person is treated with Paracetamol to bring down the fever. The person is usually adviced to drink lots of fluids. The infected person should be isolated until recovery from the rest of the family to prevent further infections.

Although there is no vaccine to prevent this epidemic certain preventive measures as specified below can be taken to control the epidemic.

Preventive Measures to control Dengue Fever

• Use mosquito repellents.
  
• discard all unwanted items getting gathered around the living area to avoid the breeding of mosquitoes.
  
• Keep the water stores clean and closed.
  
• keep yourself well covered when outside.
  
• Take prompt medical advice once fever starts.