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The child or baby may be dengue or suspicious when symptoms such as high fever, irritability and poor appetite appear, especially during times of epidemic disease, such as in the summer.
However, dengue is not always accompanied by symptoms that are easy to identify, and can be confused with the flu, for example, which ends up shuffling parents and leading to dengue being identified at a more severe stage.
Thus, the ideal is that whenever the child or baby has a high fever and other signs other than usual, it should be evaluated by a pediatrician to identify the cause and start the most appropriate treatment, avoiding possible complications.
Main symptoms in child and baby
The child with dengue may have no symptoms or flu-like symptoms, so the disease often passes quickly to the serious stage without being identified. In general, symptoms include:
- Apathy and drowsiness;
- Body ache;
- High fever, sudden onset and lasting between 2 and 7 days;
- Headache;
- Refusal to eat;
- Diarrhea or loose stools;
- Vomiting;
- Red spots on the skin, which usually appear after the 3rd day of fever.
In children under 2 years old, symptoms such as headache and muscle pain can be identified by persistent crying and irritability. In the early stage of dengue there are no respiratory symptoms, however what often causes parents to confuse dengue with the flu is fever, which can happen in both cases.
Signs of dengue complications
The so-called "alarm signs" are the main signs of dengue complications in children and appear between the 3rd and 7th day of the disease, when the fever passes and other symptoms appear, such as:
- Frequent vomiting;
- Severe abdominal pain, which does not go away;
- Dizziness or fainting;
- Difficulty breathing;
- Bleeding from the nose or gums;
- Temperature below 35 ° C.
In general, dengue fever in children worsens rapidly and the appearance of these signs is an alert for the onset of the most severe form of the disease. Thus, the pediatrician should be consulted as soon as the first symptoms appear, so that the disease is identified before it goes into severe form.
How to confirm the diagnosis
The diagnosis of dengue is made through a blood test to assess the presence of the virus. However, the result of this test takes a few days and, therefore, it is common for the doctor to start treatment even when the result is not known.
How the treatment is done
The treatment of dengue begins as soon as the symptoms are identified, even without confirmation of the diagnosis by blood test. The type of treatment that will be used depends on the severity of the disease, and only in the mildest cases can the child be treated at home. In general, treatment includes:
- Fluid intake;
- IV drip;
- Medicines to control the symptoms of fever, pain and vomiting.
In the most severe cases, the child must be admitted to the ICU. Usually dengue lasts about 10 days, but full recovery can take 2 to 4 weeks.
Because the child may have dengue more than once
All people, children and adults, can have dengue again, even if they have had the disease before. As there are 4 different viruses for dengue, the person who got dengue once is immune only to that virus, being able to catch even 3 more different types of dengue.
In addition, it is common for people who have had dengue to develop hemorrhagic dengue, and therefore care to prevent the disease must be maintained. Learn how to make a homemade repellent at: dengue prevention.