Dengue fever

Diagnosis

To diagnose dengue fever, your healthcare professional asks about your medical and travel history. Be sure to give details about trips abroad. Include the countries you visited and the dates. Also note any contact you may have had with mosquitoes.

Your healthcare professional may draw a sample of blood to be tested in a lab to see if you've been infected with one of the dengue viruses.

Treatment

There is no treatment for dengue fever, but there are ways to ease symptoms.

While recovering from dengue fever, rest and drink plenty of fluids. Call your healthcare professional right away if you get symptoms of severe dengue fever.

Also call your healthcare professional if you get any of the following symptoms. They could mean you've lost too much body fluid. This is a condition called dehydration.

• Less urinating.
• Few or no tears.
• Dry mouth or lips.
• Lack of energy or feeling confused.
• Cold or clammy hands and feet.

You can take acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) that you can get without a prescription to help lessen muscle pain and fever. But for dengue fever, don't take other pain relievers, including aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve). These medicines can raise the risk of bleeding from dengue fever.

If you have severe dengue fever, you may need to go to a hospital for:

• Fluid and electrolyte replacement through a vein.
• Checking blood pressure and platelet count.
• Getting donor blood to replace blood loss.

Preparing for your appointment

You may start by seeing your main healthcare professional, who might send you to a doctor who specializes in infectious diseases.

Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment.

What you can do

Make a list of:

• Your symptoms and when they began.
• Key personal information. List your history of travel abroad, with dates, countries visited and medicines you took while traveling. Bring a record of your vaccinations, including any you got for your trip.
• All medicines, vitamins and supplements you take, including dosages.
• Questions to ask your healthcare professional.

For dengue fever, some basic questions to ask include:

• What's the most likely cause of my symptoms?
• What tests do I need?
• What treatments are there?
• How long will it be before I feel better?
• Does this condition have long-term effects?
• Where can I get more information about this condition?

What to expect from your doctor

Be ready to answer questions, such as:

• How bad are your symptoms?
• Do they stay with you or come and go?
• Does anything seem to make your symptoms better or worse?
• Where have you traveled in the past month?
• Were you bitten by mosquitoes while traveling?