A second attack of dengue is more dangerous

13 October, 2012

If a patient was diagnosed and suffered from dengue in the last one year, he or she needs to be careful as a second attack could turn out to be more dangerous than the first attack.

THERE ARE four types of dengue. Thus, one can develop dengue four times in one's lifetime. What's even more critical is that second or later dengue infections can turn out to be even more serious than the previous incident of dengue in the patient.

Further, a person who has dengue can also, at the same time, suffer from malaria. Now, dengue and malaria, together, can decrease platelet counts to critical level - resulting in complications.

A important thing to remember is that in dengue season, nobody should have aspirin when having fever as it can trigger bleeding.

In a patient having dengue, most of the complications take place within two days of the fever coming down - as most people get careless when the fever is subsiding. After the fever has come down, if a patient reports giddiness, abdominal pain, or weakness, it should be attented to by a doctor. Complications resulting from dengue in this period can result in shift of blood volume - with the patient requiring fast infusion of oral or intravenous fluids.