Signs and symptoms of Dengue

Dengue Signs and Symptoms

It is important to have your child checked by a doctor once any of these symptoms are seen.

1.) Dengue fever usually starts suddenly with a high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and muscle and joint pain.
2.) The severity of the joint pain has given dengue the name “breakbone fever.”
3.) Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are common.
4.) A rash usually appears 3 to 4 days after the start of the fever.

The illness can last up to 10 days, but complete recovery can take as long as a month. Older children and adults are usually sicker than young children.

More severe illness may occur in some people. These people may be experiencing dengue fever for the first time. However, in some cases a person may have already had dengue fever at one time, recovered, and then is reinfected with the virus. In these cases, the first infection teaches the immune system to recognize the presence of the arbovirus. When the immune cells encounter the virus during later infections, the immune system over-reacts. These types of illnesses, called dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or dengue shock syndrome (DSS), involve more severe symptoms.

A fever occurs in nearly all dengue infections in children; the other most common symptoms are a red throat, a (usually mild) runny nose, cough, and mild gastrointestinal symptoms which of course may present similar to pharyngitis, influenza, and upper respiratory infections.

The dengue virus causes the blood vessels to swell and leak, creating small purple colored spots on the skin, called petechiae. The skin may appear bruised in areas where the bleeding is worse. Bleeding into the stomach causes severe abdominal pains and vomiting of a black, grainy substance that looks like coffee grounds. This severe bleeding, called hemorrhaging, occurs when the blood runs out of clotting factors.