Table of contents:
- Handling of DHF during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 1,024,298
- 831,330
- 28,855
- Distinguishing the symptoms of dengue fever and COVID-19
- The shadow of the dengue outbreak during the COVID-19 pandemic in other countries
Entering the rainy season and transition, handling during a pandemic must be accompanied by vigilance for the emergence of an outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).
The best way to live in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is to minimize outside activities and stay at home. The house is a safe place to avoid transmission of COVID-19, but not for dengue transmission.
Handling of DHF during the COVID-19 pandemic
The peak of DHF cases usually occurs in March each year but this year is different, there are still quite a lot of cases until June.
Starting from January to June 7, 2020, dengue cases have reached more than 68 thousand cases in all regions in Indonesia.
"We see that until now we are still finding cases between 100 and 500 cases per day," said the Director of Prevention and Control of Vector Transmission and Zoonotics, dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Building, Monday (22/6).
The Ministry of Health noted that the regions with the highest DHF rates were West Java Province, Lampung Province, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, East Java Province, Central Java Province, Yogyakarta Province, and South Sulawesi Province.
"Moreover, the area with a lot of dengue cases is an area with a high number of COVID-19 cases," said dr. Nadia.
Dr. Nadia said that even though she was implementing the COVID-19 prevention protocol, the handling and service of dengue patients was not limited.
COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData1,024,298
Confirmed831,330
Recovered28,855
DeathDistribution MapOn the same occasion, dr. Mulya Rahma Karyanti, SpA (K), a pediatrician, a consultant for tropical infections, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, explained the challenges of handling dengue during this pandemic.
First, because of the physical distancing protocol, the larva monitoring activity (Jumantik DBD) is not optimal.
Second, During the last three months or so, many buildings have been abandoned due to work and study activities at home. This makes the building vulnerable to being a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Third, many people are at home so it is important to carry out activities to eradicate mosquito nests at home.
With this dual infection, the public is urged to be aware of the transmission of COVID-19 and the transmission of dengue fever. Perform routine DHF prevention protocols, namely draining water reservoirs, cleaning houses, and preventing the development of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae.
Distinguishing the symptoms of dengue fever and COVID-19
In addition to implementing preventive protocols, the public is expected to be more aware of the symptoms of the disease and have an early check up. Some of the similarities in the symptoms that COVID-19 infection and dengue fever may have left some people feeling confused.
Dr. Mulya explained several differences in the symptoms of DHF and COVID-19 that the public could note so that they could carry out better early treatment.
The typical symptom of a viral infection is high fever, these symptoms both occur in COVID-19 patients or dengue patients. However, the two are still distinguishable.
For DHF, the most common symptoms that occur are sudden high fever, flushing, headache, pain behind the eyes, vomiting, and bleeding.
"The bleeding is not present in the symptoms of COVID-19. This bleeding can be nosebleeds, bleeding gums, or red spots on the skin. In COVID-19, there are symptoms of breathlessness similar to pneumonia, DHF there are no symptoms of shortness of breath, "explained dr. Mulya.
The shadow of the dengue outbreak during the COVID-19 pandemic in other countries
Indonesia is not the only one facing multiple infections. There are other countries such as Singapore and several countries in Latin America and South Asia.
Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) has reported, from January to mid-May, there are more than 7,000 cases of dengue fever in the country.
In Singapore, the similarity in early symptoms between COVID-19 and DHF had made medical personnel mishandled.
This report was written by Gabriel Yan and a team from the Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Two patients were initially diagnosed as infected with dengue after undergoing serological tests (blood tests). They then underwent DHF treatment while being treated in the hospital.
After being discharged from the hospital, the patient returned to having a high fever and returned to the hospital. The results of further investigations showed that the patient was positive for COVID-19 and had never suffered from dengue at all.
