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National Dengue Day 2018 : People with no symptoms of dengue fever can be potential source!

National Dengue Day 2018 : People with no symptoms of dengue fever can be potential source!

We get an expert to tells us more.

Written by Aishwarya Vaidya |Published : May 16, 2018 11:09 AM IST

Dengue has created havoc across the country. With many people suffering with this life-threatening disease, timely diagnosis and intervention is the need of the hour. You will also be shocked to know that people who do not exhibit any symptoms can also be a medium of the danger disease.

  • People who virtually show no symptoms are likely to be the primary source of dengue fever, according to a new study. 80% of dengue virus infections are spread through individuals with mild to no symptoms.
  • About 400 million people each year are infected with dengue virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India, said, Dengue should be diagnosed early as the patient has maximum viremia during early phase with more infectivity. The test to be done is NS1 antigen and not IgM. NS1 is positive in less than 5 days and the IgM becomes positive after 5 days. IgG and IgM kits are provided free by the Government of India but not the NS1 kits, which need to be procured by the states themselves. The priority should be NS1 kits and not IgM. Prevention should be the primary focus of combating dengue, failing which it may become difficult to control further transmission.

He adds, There is no point acting when the cases have started. Often, the civic bodies publicly act in monsoon season. They might plan ahead but public awareness and public involvement must start much ahead of time.

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As per Dr K K Aggarwal, it is true that disease spreading mosquitoes do not make noise but noise producing nuisance mosquitoes unless addressed to will not create a public movement. One must report all the suspected cases and not wait for confirmation of the diagnosis.

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