What happens when a dengue mosquito bites you: Signs and symptoms of dengue fever
When a dengue mosquito bites you, you may or may not notice. Here are the symptoms of dengue fever to help you identify the disease more easily.
Dengue fever is a painful disease caused by a virus transmitted by a particular species of mosquitoes. It infects approximately 400 million people in the world every year and causes an illness in around 96 million cases.
When a dengue mosquito bites you, it transmits the virus and can cause dengue fever symptoms. The person bitten by the mosquito might show mild symptoms in which case it is not too difficult to be cured. However, if a person shows severe dengue symptoms, urgent medical attention will be needed.
Dengue is most prevalent in tropical regions such as the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central and South America, the Pacific Islands, etc since they provide the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
What causes dengue fever?
While dengue fever is caused by a virus, dengue is transmitted through the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. This same mosquito species also carries chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever and are mainly active during dawn and dusk.
When a dengue mosquito bites a person infected with the dengue virus, it becomes infected too.
The virus then hitches a ride through the mosquito and enters the bloodstream of another person when the dengue mosquito is sucking their blood.
A dengue mosquito bite is usually redder and itchier than normal mosquito bites.
There are four kinds of dengue viruses (DENV) that cause dengue fever. You may get immunity from one strain if you develop dengue fever once but you might get the illness again from a different strain.
Note that a recurrence of dengue fever means that you might get the harsher form the disease with more severe symptoms.
It is only the female Aedes mosquito that drinks the blood of humans and is thus a cause of dengue. This is because female mosquitoes need a protein in the human blood to produce a lot more eggs than they can without it.
What are the symptoms of dengue fever?
When a dengue mosquito bites you, you may develop mild or severe symptoms for dengue.
Early symptoms of dengue in mild cases are:
- Aching joints and muscles
- Intense headache
- Pain behind the eyes
- High fever
- A body rash of red patches that can go away and then reappear
- Vomiting and feeling nauseous
Dengue fever symptoms in children or babies are the same as for dengue symptoms in adults except that in kids, the symptoms are usually milder, especially if it's the first time they get dengue.
The effects of dengue can worsen within a few days in cases of more severe cases of dengue fever.
Symptoms of dengue haemorrhagic fever:
- Clammy skin
- Bleeding from mouth, gums or nose
- Sensitive stomach
- Small blood spots under the skin, like red dots
- Weak pulse
- Damage to blood vessels and lymphs
- Internal bleeding which can lead to black vomit or black stools
- Lower blood platelet count
Anyone showing these symptoms would need prompt treatment.
Dengue shock syndrome is another severe form of dengue. In this case, a person experiences the symptoms of dengue in mild cases but also the following:
- Heavy bleeding
- Regular vomiting
- Intense stomach pain
- Blood vessels leak fluid
- Fast and sudden drop in blood pressure
- Disorientation
Dengue shock syndrome can cause death without treatment.
Is dengue fever contagious?
Dengue fever is not contagious as it cannot spread directly from person to person. It can only spread when a dengue mosquito bites you.
Moreover, not all Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are carrying dengue. Only those which are carrying the virus can infect other humans.
Dengue diagnosis test
If you start showing symptoms for dengue, you should visit a doctor to get a dengue diagnosis test done. The doctor can assess all the symptoms and order blood tests to confirm whether or not you have dengue.
The symptoms for dengue are similar to that of typhoid and malaria and this can delay diagnosis at times.
To treat mild cases, prevent dehydration by drinking lots of water and take paracetamols to lower fever and ease pain Aspirin and ibuprofen are not advised in these cases as they can cause internal bleeding.
Severe cases may require hospitalisation. Please follow your doctor’s advice in either case.
Dengue fever symptoms may be visible for seven days after a dengue mosquito bites you. They can disappear after a week. In cases of mild dengue fever, the dengue signs and symptoms will likely not turn into anything serious or fatal.
Read: How to identify a dengue mosquito
Read: 8 ways to prevent yourself from getting dengue during monsoon
Read: What does a dengue mosquito bite look? All you need to know