World-wide dengue distribution, 2006. Red: Epidemic dengue. Blue: Aedes aegypti.
Gopi's wife has been in and out of doctors offices and hospitals since Saturday (6 days ago) she will be in the hospital for 2 more days for treatment. She was finally diagnosed with dengue fever. Gopi has been beside himself... so sad to see the whole family suffering. Damn mosquitoes!!!
From Wikipedia:
Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases, found in the tropics and Africa, and caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. It is also known as breakbone fever.
Dengue is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti or more rarely the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which feed during the day.
The symptoms are: a sudden onset of severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias—severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease), fever, and rash.
The mainstay of treatment is timely supportive therapy to tackle shock due to haemoconcentration and bleeding. Close monitoring of vital signs in critical period (between day 2 to day 7 of fever) is vital. Increased oral fluid intake is recommended to prevent dehydration. Supplementation with intravenous fluids may be necessary to prevent dehydration and significant concentration of the blood if the patient is unable to maintain oral intake.
UPDATE: Gopi's wife came home from the hospital 1 week after the sickness began. She is feeling better, trying to get stronger, and her mother is staying with them to help. Gopi says his wife's hands are so swollen after dripping liters and liters of IV fluid into her body using the veins on the back of her hands. Today, Feb 4th, is her birthday. I did not need Gopi today so he was able to stay home and be with her.
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