Dengue (pronounced Den-gee) fever is a painful, incapacitating mosquito-borne disease initiated by the dengue virus, spreading through the virus infected aedes aegypti mosquito bites. With an infection as such, which spreads mainly via mosquito bites, it can be extremely difficult to separate a usual mosquito bite and a dengue mosquito bite.

Approximately four hundred million dengue infections occur worldwide each year, with about ninety six million causing illness. Over the past weeks, there’s been a continuous rise in the number of dengue cases being evident across the countries. While the irregular monsoons and seasonal fluctuations are chief explanations behind the upsurge, dengue cases are also becoming hazardous, because of the newer variants in circulation.

While there are indications of COVID-19 starting to slow down in India and vaccinations on a constant rise, new fears have appeared in the form of a stark rise in dengue cases across India. Even though the dengue epidemic has been fairly under control in the past years, doctors are now reporting a greater than ever reporting of dengue cases, that too, with the occurrence of a novel variant.

While we have observed the damage caused by the Delta variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, with the disturbing surge witnessed with Dengue cases, specialists have decreed that a new variant of the Dengue virus, which has been observed in over 11 states in the country including Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, is adding caseloads and quite lethal in nature. While the maximum amount of times DENV strains cause severe or mild flu-like illness, certain strains of DENV, such as D2 have been chiefly associated with severe symptoms and intensity of indicators, which can also cause death without timely intervention. Some medical experts have also cited the DENV-2’s seeming competence to enable viral entry, and can lead to the infamous dengue-shock syndrome or the dengue-haemorrhagic fever.

Not only is the new variant a latest discovery, it can increase our concerns, particularly at a time when it can be problematic to segregate or tell COVID-19 symptoms apart from Dengue. There, however, are some ways to differentiate between the two:

• Loss of smell and taste and other upper respiratory tract inflammation signs may only appear in COVID-19, not dengue.
• Shortness of breath, chest pain or breathing issues do not characteristically present with dengue.
• Dengue can often start with the onset of a headache or weakness, which may not frequently be the case if you have been infected with COVID-19.

While dengue is mostly a controllable disease which can be easily avoided (by following appropriate safeguards), the treatment for dengue remains on symptomatic supervision. Hospitalization may be mandatory in some cases, but most people recover well in time, if symptoms are appropriately detected and treated.

With dengue fever, there’s also severity linked with the current DENV-2 strain of the virus. It is verily fundamental to take note of potential signs of deteriorating, understanding, and taking action on early signs can lead to the right diagnosis. The general and easily recognizable early signs of the infection include:

• High fever, generally more than 103 degrees Fahrenheit
• Body pains
• Chills, weakness and tiredness
• Joint and bone pain
• Pain in the belly and abdomen
• Rashes, redness in the eyes
• Nausea and vomiting

It should be noted that dengue certainly is an infection best tackled with preventive care, and can be entirely evaded as long as there’s decent hygiene practices being followed. To defend oneself during the current widespread dengue season, there are some of the things which should be considered as soon as possible:

• Sanitize and disinfect abandoned water sources and evade water stagnation.
• Exchange water in pots, stands, bird feeders regularly.
• Encourage to wear full sleeved clothes to avoid exposure to mosquitoes
• Proper use of mosquito repellents