Health ministry urges people with dengue to seek medical attention

The Director of Emergency, Disaster Management and Special Services, Dr. Marion Bullock DuCasse is urging individuals who may be experiencing severe symptoms of dengue fever or dengue haemorrhagic fever to immediately visit the nearest health facility.

Dengue haemorrhagic fever is a severe form of dengue fever which often causes death.

Symptoms of dengue fever include sudden onset of high fever with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle, bone or joint pain, skin rash and vomiting or feeling nauseous.

In addition, severe and continuous stomach pains, pale, cold, clammy skin, bleeding from the nose, mouth or gums, skin bruising, frequent vomiting (with or without blood), difficulty in breathing and fainting may also be experienced in the case of dengue haemorrhagic fever.

The complications associated with dengue haemorrhagic fever usually starts after the fever goes down.

In severe cases, patients go into shock called dengue shock syndrome.

“If you are experiencing any of these symptoms and have any reason to believe you or a family member may have dengue haemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, you need to go to the nearest health facility immediately,” said DuCasse.

Jamaica is currently experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever and has recorded an increase in the number of cases since the start of the year.

The health ministry reports that there were 1,710 suspected cases of dengue fever as at October 13, 2012, compared with 429 for the corresponding period last year and 2,642 for the similar period in 2010 when there was also an outbreak.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
The Health Ministry’s Emergency Operations Centre at 1888-663-5683 (1888 ONE LOVE), from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.

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