Six children died after being infected with dengue over the past few weeks and more children have been infected with the mosquito-borne disease.
With this surge in cases, Paediatrician at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Dr. Marcel Persaud is urging parents to bring children with flu-like symptoms in for testing and treatment instead of trying to nurse them back to health at home.
“We have a lot of cases of kids coming in at different stages of the dengue and because of that our wards have become a little bit overwhelming but we’re managing,” Dr. Persaud told the News Room in an interview on Tuesday.
Children who are infected with dengue and are brought to the hospital for treatment usually display several symptoms.According to Dr. Persaud, those symptoms include high fevers, diarrhoea, weakness and rashes. The rashes, he noted, are particularly worrying.
“…We’re very [worried] about it because the rashes are like bloodshots on some of the kids and also there is a generalised red rash,” Dr. Persaud said.
Because children’s initial reactions to a dengue virus infection may include flu-like symptoms, the paediatrician said some parents may try to nurse their children back to health at home.
Instead of doing that, he advised parents to take their children to health centres or hospitals for dengue tests.
Once detected early, he said children can get the necessary treatment. If not, children may become dehydrated at home and experience worse and potentially fatal symptoms.
Aside from urging parents to seek treatment for their children, Dr. Persaud advised people to keep their surroundings clean to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease and its symptoms include high fevers, head and body aches and nausea.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said these increased infections are, in part, linked to global warming. Increased temperatures are said to be conducive for the breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito which spreads the disease and thrives in stagnant water.
