What You Need to Know If You Are Traveling to the Subtropical Parts of the World

When you think about traveling, you get all excited about the adventure ahead. In most cases, your health never comes into any planning part of your travel details. Not to be a devil’s advocate, but it’s important to learn about some diseases that are prevalent in some areas.

Dengue fever is very common in the subtropical parts of the world, like Australia, Asia, Africa and South Africa. This condition is a viral disease that is brought about by mosquitoes. It starts as a mild flu and can develop into the severe dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.

How you get it

Dengue fever is not passed from one person to the other, but through mosquito bites. The mosquito gets the virus after biting an infected person. After this, the mosquito becomes a carrier and it spreads the virus anytime it bites a person.

Diagnosis

If you travel or leave in an area where dengue fever is prevalent, it’s important to look out for symptoms. Once you suspect that you may be infected by the virus, visit a doctor immediately.

Your doctor will look into your medical history, including your travel, and then perform a physical examination and most likely blood tests.

There are two possible blood tests that can be done using the mybiosource elisa kit to determine whether you have been infected with the virus. They include:

• Nucleic acid testing which is one test.
• Antibody testing which are two tests that can be done three weeks apart from each other

Treating dengue fever

There is no known vaccine or treatment for dengue fever. The best preventative measure is to avoid mosquito bites while in dengue-prone areas. Medical attention is aimed at managing symptoms and trying to reduce any complications that may arise.

Mild cases of dengue fever will resolve within two weeks. The doctor recommends bed rest, drinking a lot of fluids and prescribes medicine to reduce fever. Please note that aspirin should not be taken due to its blood-thinning properties.

If the patient suffers the severe case of the virus, hospitalization will be required. Replacement of lost electrolytes and intravenous fluids are some treatments that are done for severe dengue cases.

How to avoid mosquito bites

Here some tips;

• Mosquitos bite at around dawn and dusk. Therefore avoid outdoor activities at that time.
• Wear long sleeves, socks and pants while outdoors.
• Use mosquito repellants that have picaridin or DEET (N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide). Apply regularly but follow the instructions on the box.
• Use a mosquito net.
• Make sure the room you are staying in hasfly screens on the windows.

What you should always remember

• Dengue fever symptoms are characterized by high fevers, headache, joint and muscle aches and nausea.
• If you think that you have been infected, visit a doctor immediately.

Rachel Ballards is a Pharmacy student; she spends most of her time researching about medical devices like mybiosource elisa kits, CLIA kits, PCR kits etc. She markets these medical devices on the internet after using them. She also writes reviews on her blog. To learn more about what she has researched on so far, visit her blog.