In Reply to: Dengue fever posted by mapa on Monday, 10. May 2010 at 06:09 Bali Time:
I find tropical strength Aeroguard works for me. I also read that you should use one containing "deet" and on reading the back of my Aeroguard can't see that, unless it is an abbreviation of Diethyltoluamide. Perhaps somebody else knows. I do know that usually we wouldn't be keen to use deet but it seems to be the lesser of 2 evils.
Another important thing which I certainly did not think of when Brian got it, is if anyone gets Dengue Fever it is strongly advised that they use a repellent all the time until such time as a. They go back home to a none-mosquito season/place, or b. Blood tests shows the viral load in their blood to be low enough not to worry. How low that is would be a question for a professional. I don't know. The reason for this is pretty obvious if you think about it. Dengue is not infectious person to person but consider this.....
The scene is your hotel room. Everyone in your family is sleeping happily when enter a mozzie (from stage left) and has a little nibble on your arm before moving on to have main course and dessert on your family. Hey presto enter the Demon Dengue (loud clap of thunder and flashing lights). Takes a while to develop so a week or 10 days later when somebody else falls sick, probably after you return home, you all wonder how they got it too.
Also I found in Australia (out side of Queensland) not a great many Doctors have experience with Dengue so it may be down to you if a family member falls sick with some or all of, high fever, aches and pains in bones, a rash, pain behind the eyes when you have recently returned from Bali to alert the Doctor to the risk of Dengue. I found the Queensland department of health and Singapore DOH websites most informative. Also my local chemist who originally came from Singapore was a mine of information.
We found out after the blood taken on our return to Australia that this test was only to confirm the presence of Dengue. These tests took 10 days to get back. A time frame that is totally useless in Dengue. This we already knew because at SOS clinic in Bali they got a test back in 2 hours to ensure that Brian was safe to fly. 2 tests in fact. One confirmed it was Dengue the second and VERY importantly checked his blood clotting factor (platelets?) which were low but not low enough to indicate a risk of bleeding so he was safe to fly (with a recommendation to see his own Doctor for more blood tests at home). This test, had we have stayed in Bali would have been repeated in a couple of days to make sure that level wasn't dropping in which case he would have been hospitalised on a drip. Brian was lucky and did not have the hemorrhagic type and after about 5 weeks is fully recovered.
The moral of this story is. Unless you live in Queensland, you will probably find a better level of treatment in Bali than at home. Also don't just assume they will be OK after 1 blood test. There also is a danger period when the fever drops for what is called "Dengue Shock" when the capillaries leak and this too can be fatal. You may need to insist on a test for platelet levels. There is another word used which is something like "thrombocytes" and means the same thing, clotting factor.