Over the past few years, dengue has managed to capture the headlines in both India and abroad. Statistics show that India reported over 67,000 cases of this mosquito-borne disease in October 2019. While authorities have taken several initiatives against this endemic issue, several myths exist, preventing people from understanding the actual signs and symptoms of dengue.
What is dengue?
Dengue is a viral disease spread by the bites of Aedes mosquitoes and identified through mild to severe dengue fever symptoms. There are primarily 4 different viruses causing this illness – DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4. It is a common disease in over 100 countries across the globe. In fact, around 400 million individuals fall victim to the disease every year. Close to 22,000 deaths happen from severe dengue while 100 million get sick.
To curb this killer virus effectively, it is crucial to understand the disease, the myths surrounding dengue mosquito and preventive measures to avoid being infected.
Here, note that you can avail a monsoon cover to stay financially protected from other seasonal diseases.
Debunking the myths around dengue fever
- Dengue is treatable
There is no specific medication or vaccine to treat dengue directly. Doctors prescribe pain-killers and other such medicines to bring down its effects according to dengue symptoms. Also, patients need to drink plenty of fluids and vitamins to get well soon.
- Dengue is just a fever – harmless and mild
As mentioned, dengue can be both mild and severe. If the mild symptoms are detected in time, patients can receive proper treatment and heal within a week or so. However, high dengue fever causes internal bleeding, breathing difficulty, confusion, liver failure and more. Improper diagnosis and delayed treatment can result in complications, leading to a patient’s death as well.
- Papaya leaf can cure the fever
You can use papaya leaf to manage the signs and symptoms of dengue, but it cannot treat the fever. As platelet count fluctuates and drops in patients, papaya leaf aids in increasing the platelets significantly. It acts as a supplement only.
- Dengue cannot infect more than once
Most people have this misconception that once a patient is affected by dengue, he or she cannot get it again. However, the truth is this disease can infect you multiple times.
When an individual gets affected by a dengue virus, his or her body grows resistance against it but not the remaining three. So, chances of being infected remain. You must follow all the measures for dengue prevention such as using insect repellents, mosquito nets, and empty clean but stored water where the mosquito breeds.
The indicators of dengue
Some of the signs and symptoms of dengue include:
- Fever,
- Eye pain,
- Headache,
- Body pain (especially in joints and muscles),
- Nausea,
- Vomiting,
- Unusual bleeding, etc.
Cover yourself with financial security
A dengue cover goes a long way in financially protecting you against the disease, in case you are affected. Opt for a feature-rich Dengue Insurance Cover offered under Pocket Insurance & Subscriptions by Bajaj Finserv. Coverage up to Rs.50,000 helps you bear the expenses of hospitalisation, pre-hospitalisation, doctor’s charges and medication efficiently.
Additionally, you can also purchase a hospital cash cover plan to deal with the regular expenses during hospitalisation.
While the numbers of affected people are high, it has reduced considerably compared to previous years. Simply follow the necessary dengue prevention measures from being infected and cover yourself with an additional safety layer of dengue insurance plan in India. Make sure to watch out for the symptoms and seek medical help immediately.
