Residents Warned Against Self-diagnosing Dengue Fever

The Acting Chief Medical Officer is warning members of the public not to self-diagnose when experiencing severe Dengue Fever symptoms or other ailments which are brought on by a fever.

Symptoms of severe dengue includes bleeding in the gums, stool, feeling tired, being in a confused state.

Dr Teri-Ann Joseph suggests anyone experiencing such symptoms should go directly to a hospital or a private medical facility.

“You can go into shock; you can also have very severe pain in your abdomen, restlessness, you can become very cold and clammy and those are signs which means you literally need to get up and run,”

“I also want to talk about the fever because people tend to want to treat themselves. It is very important when you have a fever with Dengue you only take paracetamol, another drug we know can take down fever is the Ibuprofen and aspirin these drugs can predispose you to bleeding and you do not want to take anything that predisposes you to bleeding if you have dengue fever,” she warned.

The medical practitioner also stressed the need for personal responsibility, outlining that while the government is doing its part members of the general public are equally responsible to ensuring that they eliminate mosquito breeding sites in and around their homes.

“The mosquito cannot bite you if you are covered, if cannot bite you if you are wearing insect repellant, you will not have then around you if you are now creating breathing sites for them to flourish. These are things that the government cannot do for you, you have to do them for yourself,” Dr Joseph stated. 

There has been an increase in dengue fever cases for this month surpassing the 2019 record with 43 confirmed cases this year.

The acting chief said while the numbers are concerning there is usually a spike around this time of year.