Dengue Fever : Symptoms, Causes, Diet and Ayurvedic Treatment
The recent dengue outbreak has rattled the whole world including India. In India, dengue fever is at large and cases are increasing every day, including the death toll in many states of India. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease and high fever. When a dengue virus carrier mosquito bites a human it infects the human with the dengue virus. Dengue fever is a very serious and deadly disease when not treated within the time, it can cause death or serious damage to brain cells.
Dengue infection can cause mild to high fever and sudden drop of blood platelets, can cause serious bleeding and in serious infection death also. But in fact, dengue fever is a treatable viral disease. Generally, it does not harm the patient. If a patient gets quick medical attention otherwise, it can cause serious harm.
Dengue fever is most common in tropical and subtropical parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, where mosquito biting is a major problem due to the heavy density of mosquitoes in these areas. The best possible way to prevent the infection is to avoid being bitten by the mosquito and do all measures to reduce the mosquito population in your surrounding. Keeping your surroundings clean and mosquito-free is very important to fight against dengue and malaria.
Symptoms of Dengue Fever
Most of the time people with dengue infection think that they are having some normal viral infection or flu because some symptoms are the same. With a dengue virus pathology test it can be detected easily as a dengue infection. So whenever you feel such symptoms visit the doctor immediately.
- Mild to High fever
- Body aches
- Headache (mild to severe)
- Pain in joints and muscles
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Pain behind the eyes
- Swollen glands
- Rashes over body
Most of the time with proper medications people get better within the week, but sometimes symptoms worsen and can cause life threats. Mostly with high fever, higher than (103 degrees Fahrenheit) can cause serious damage to the body and blood vessels to burst out resulting in heavy bleeding can cause death.
If you feel some serious symptoms. In such a life-threatening emergency, rush to the hospital and get medical attention.
Serious Symptoms of Dengue Fever
- Severe stomach ache
- High fever
- Bleeding from the nose and gums
- Persistent vomiting
- Bleeding in urine, stool, and vomit
- Bruising on body
- Feeling extremely dizzy
- Very low blood pressure
- Difficulty in breathing
- Uncontrolled diarrhea
Cause of Dengue Fever
The only way to get infected by a dengue virus is to be bitten by a dengue virus-carrying mosquito. Mosquito bit is the sole cause of dengue infection. By biting a human, a mosquito transmits the dengue virus into the human body. After the infectious biting of a mosquito usually, a person starts feeling the symptoms in 3 or 4 days like headache and exhaustion.
Dengue infection in many terms is a body-breaking infection even after complete recovery from infection a person feels weak and exhausted while doing physical activity. Dengue fever also decreases the patient’s immunity for a short time.
Prevention from Dengue fever
Prevention from getting infected dengue virus is very easy and by taking very simple and small preventive measures, people can avoid dengue infection.
- Avoid going into high-density mosquito areas.
- Use mosquito repellents to avoid being bitten.
- Wear protective clothes or full sleeves clothes.
- Use a mosquito protection net around your bed during sleep.
- Don’t let water accumulate or store in your surroundings because mosquitoes breed in water and always keep stored water covered with a lid or something so that mosquitoes cannot use that water body to breed.
Diet For Dengue Fever Patient
Dietary supplements are very essential for a dengue infection patient. Diet can help a patient not only to fight against the infection, but in post-infection recovery too. With the right and healthy diet, a person can easily fight the infection alongside the medications, and a post dengue diet is also very crucial for complete and rapid recovery.
✔️ Pomegranate
Pomegranate can help in maintaining the essential energy level and provides vital vitamins and nutrition to the body while infection. Pomegranate can help in maintaining blood hemoglobin.
✔️ Papaya
Papaya improves overall stomach health. It clears the stomach and regulates digestion. Promotes metabolism and aids the digestive system. Provides relief from bloating and gas. Papaya leaf juice can also increase the platelets of blood and it is a helping factor to recover from dengue infection.
✔️ Coconut water
Due to excessive vomiting and diarrhea, dengue can cause serious dehydration to the patient. Here coconut water can fulfill the requirement of water and hydrates the body and it’s also rich in electrolytes which gives instant energy to the patient.
✔️ Turmeric
Turmeric is considered a medicine around the whole world because of its antibiotic properties. It’s a significant food item to take during the recovery from dengue infection.
✔️ Orange
Orange is an elixir during dengue infection, it is rich in vitamin c and antioxidants can help in fighting and eliminating the dengue virus.
✔️ Spinach
Spinach is rich in iron and helps in increasing the blood platelet count. Omega 3 fatty acids present in spinach improve the immune system to a great extent.
✔️ Kiwi Fruit
Kiwi fruit richness in vitamin A and E along with potassium makes it a perfect fruit for dengue patients. Eating kiwi fruit during or post dengue can inject energy and boosts immunity and it also increases the red blood cell in the body.
While taking these healthy foods a person should avoid some food items. These food items can worsen the symptoms, take down your immunity, and can slow down your recovery. Food items like oily, fatty, and spicy food can increase stomach problems. Avoid caffeinated beverages and Non-vegetarian food.
Ayurvedic Treatment for Dengue Fever
Dengue virus infection is treatable with the ancient and magical science of Ayurveda. It is called Dandaka Jwara in Ayurveda. Since dengue is a virus, there are many Ayurvedic medical treatments available for dengue infection. Many plants, herbs, and spices have antibiotic properties and they are thoroughly in use by Ayurvedic treatments for dengue. Consulting an Ayurvedic doctor for the treatment of dengue infection is highly recommendable. Just within a few days by using many useful and natural medicines an Ayurvedic doctor can treat and eliminate the infection.
Ayurveda portrays different treatment techniques to treat dengue fever, which includes Vish Hara Ras, langhana (fasting), deepana (inviting), pachana (stomach related), and mrudu swedana (gentle sedation or sweat treatment). Herbs used for dengue treatment like papaya leaves, Guduchi (Heart-leaved moonseed), amalaki (Indian gooseberry), wheatgrass, rasonam (garlic), tulsi (blessed basil), and neem. Ayurvedic herbs prevent mosquito bites and increase immunity hence helping in the avoidance and treatment of dengue. Medications that are utilized for the treatment of dengue involve Tribhuvan Kirti rasa, guluchyadi kashayam, sanjivani vati, vasanthakumar,sootshekhar, sudarshan churna, vasavaleha, lakshya godanti churna and padmakadi taila. Langhana, Deepana, Pachana, and Mrudu swedana are the most effective and highly result-oriented treatments present in Ayurveda.
As we all know, in recent years the cases of dengue fever are on the high due to environmental pollution and an increase in the population of mosquitos. The best precaution we can take against this deadly disease is to avoid mosquito biting, keeping our surroundings clean and mosquito-free by not letting water stay in mud holes and small water pits. By changing our surroundings we can overcome this viral infection and can save many lives.