# Dengue Fever



## Zsape (May 29, 2014)

How much of a thought is dengue fever (or any other mosquito borne illness) in your regular daily lives? Is this something you frequently think about and take steps to prevent? I have read threads on other forums and was shocked at the number of people that responded saying they had contracted it.


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## tod-daniels (Dec 1, 2013)

In the 10+ years I've been here in Thailand I've caught it three times all in Bangkok (where I live). 

Unless I'm mistaken you can only catch it 5 times as there are 5 distinct strains. Catching one type doesn't make you immune to the others.

You can ONLY get dengue from a mosquito which bites you during the day, the ones at nite are different. The dengue mosquitoes if you kill one have a zebra stripe pattern on them and are quite easy to see.









The first time I caught it, it was more like a severe cold/flu. I didn't get that red rash like sunburn or the joint pain at all. The second time, I got the red rash, pain behind my eyes, pain in my joints, etc but it was manageable. The third time I wanted to die, had every symptom you could get (except bleeding from body orifices)! I went to the hospital and had i/v fluids, twice just to get thru it. There are tests you can get done at the hospital to confirm dengue, but if you get that rash, you most likely don't need the test. You should have them check your platelet count though.

I don't think there's a cure, or a real treatment per se, just get thru it without dehydrating to the point you die.. The big thing is not having it turn into that one were you bleed from your orifices and die or get such low blood pressure you die. 

I certainly don't want to catch the last 2 strains; the first three were WAY bad enough!! I'm totally paranoid about day time mosquitoes here!

Bangkok metro area is the number one dengue spot in all of Thailand no matter what the "Thai health ministry" reports. 

It's from the standing water all over the place more than anything else.. 

Here's the Wiki dealy about Dengue Fever
Dengue fever - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Mweiga (Sep 24, 2010)

That was an interesting story - maybe should take more notice of the dengue threat as I often see that zebra striped mossy when out in the garden at my place ! They're quite slow to evade a manual zapping and I usually get them first go when spotted , but still frequently find a selection of insect bites on me after a session of evening gardening.

Thai partner's daughter got dengue five years ago while at university in Chonburi and spent three days in hospital on a drip. Knocks out your white blood cell count which they monitor - once on the drip her cell count picked up and she recovered quickly.

Before moving to Thailand spent thirty years in Africa travelling all over for work frequently visiting malaria endemic areas like Dar Es Salaam , Mogadishu and Mombasa. Never took any preventative medication and despite being bitten to hell on many occasions never (to my knowledge) experienced malaria so when moving to Thailand didn't give mosquito borne disease a second thought - perhaps I should.


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## Zsape (May 29, 2014)

Dreadful stories Tod. Thanks for sharing them. It is something I am hearing all too frequently.


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