Dengue fever
Dengue fever
Last update: 2022-11-19
Key facts
Transmission
- Mosquito bite
- Mosquitoes that spread dengue fever usually bite during the day, especially in early morning and late afternoon and evening
- During pregnancy, from mother to child
- Organ transplants and blood transfusions from infected donors
Symptoms
- Starts with sudden fever.
- Can be accompanied by severe headache, muscle and joint pain, pain behind the eyes, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands and a rash.
- In some very severe cases, the disease can cause severe stomach pain, difficulty breathing and bleeding (known as “dengue haemorrhagic fever”), and even death.
Prevention
- Prevention of mosquito bites by placing insect screens on windows and doors and wearing personal protection (apply repellents, wear long sleeved clothes, etc.)
- Community clean-up campaigns to remove rubbish and cover water containers
- Destruction of mosquito breeding sites by removing standing water, fogging, and applying larvicides
- Routine vaccination
- Social mobilization and behaviour change communication
Vulnerable people
- Any person in the community can get dengue fever; but babies and young children are at higher risk of severe dengue fever
- Dengue fever is important for pregnant women because they can pass the disease to their unborn baby
If an epidemic occurs
- Increase community-based surveillance
- Rapidly detect and refer serious cases to health facilities
- Increase social mobilization and behaviour change communication
- Promote community clean-up campaigns to remove rubbish and cover water containers
- Support mass vaccination campaigns if vaccination is part of country’s dengue control programme and encourage social mobilization to support them
- Promote the prevention of mosquito bites by placing insect screens on windows and doors and wearing personal protection (apply repellents, wear long sleeved clothes, etc.)
- Eliminate mosquito breeding sites by removing standing water, fogging, and applying larvicides
- Encourage young children and people who sleep during the day to sleep under a mosquito net (if windows and doors are not screened)
Community-based assessment - questions
Make a map of the community and mark the information you gather on the map. Record other details.
- When did people start to fall sick with dengue?
- How many people have fallen sick with dengue? Where?
- How many people are severely ill with dengue haemorrhagic fever?
- How many have died? Where?
- How many people live in the affected community or area? How many children under five years of age live in the area?
- Who and where are the vulnerable people?
- Are children under five most affected? Or are other age groups, occupations, etc., more affected?
- Do people usually cover their water containers (inside and outside)?
- How many houses have insect screens on the windows and doors?
- What are the community’s habits, practices and beliefs regarding use of repellents, sprays, etc.?
- How do people in the community usually dispose of rubbish and solid waste?
- Have the authorities established a vector control programme?
- Where are the local health facilities and services? (Include traditional and community carers.)
- What are the community’s habits, practices and beliefs about caring for and feeding sick people? When babies and infants are sick, do women continue to breastfeed them?
- Is a social mobilization or health promotion programme in place?
- Which sources of information do people use most?
- Are rumours or is misinformation about the disease spreading in the community?
Volunteer actions
25. Mass vaccination campaigns
24. Routine vaccinations
01. Community-based surveillance
02. Community mapping
03. Communicating with the community
04. Community referral to health facilities
05. Volunteer protection and safety
12. Managing fever
19. Psychosocial support
36. Vector and reservoir control
37. Mosquito nets / bed nets
38. Waste disposal and clean-up campaigns
43. Social mobilization and behaviour change