How much do you know about typical dengue fever symptoms?

Dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by mosquito bites. Once you have dengue fever, you will show a variety of symptoms, which are quite harmful to your health. If your body's immunity is poor, it may even be life-threatening. The common symptom is fever. The patient has an acute fever with a rapid rise in temperature. It is also accompanied by some systemic symptoms, such as headache, back pain, joint pain, etc.

1. Fever

All patients had fever. The onset is acute, with chills first, followed by a rapid rise in temperature, which may reach 40°C within 24 hours. It usually lasts for 5 to 7 days and then drops suddenly to normal. The fever pattern is mostly irregular. In some cases, the body temperature drops to normal on the 3rd to 5th day and then rises again one day later. This is called double peak fever or saddle fever. Children's cases have a slower onset and lower fever.

2. Systemic toxic blood symptoms

Fever is accompanied by systemic symptoms, such as headache, back pain, especially severe pain in bones and joints, like fractures or broken bones. In severe cases, it affects activities, but there is no redness or swelling on the surface. Gastrointestinal symptoms may include decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. The pulse speeds up in the early stage and slows down in the later stage. In severe cases, the patient will suffer from fatigue, weakness and exhaustion.

3. Skin rash

It appears 3 to 6 days into the disease course, as a maculopapular or measles-like rash, or a scarlet fever-like rash, red macules, and in severe cases, it turns into a hemorrhagic rash. The rash is distributed over the whole body, limbs, trunk, head and face, and is often itchy. The rash lasts for 5-7 days. There is no desquamation or pigmentation after the rash subsides.

4. Bleeding

25% to 50% of cases have varying degrees of bleeding, such as gingival bleeding, epistaxis, gastrointestinal bleeding, hemoptysis, hematuria, etc.

5. Others

There is often superficial lymphadenopathy. About 1/4 of cases have liver enlargement and elevated ALT, and some cases may have jaundice and a positive brace-arm test.