The medical experts are of the view that people should not ignore the symptoms of the dengue and should keep away from self medication.
The Consultant Critical Care at Max Hospital here Dr Shantanu Belwal said that it is possible for a person to have Chikungunya and Dengue fever together because the infected mosquito can carry both the viruses at the same time. “Dengue and Chikungunya are mosquito borne viral infections that are transmitted to humans through the bites of
infective female Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes predominantly and also by Aedes Albopictus”, he said.
The doctor said that it is important to get laboratory confirmation since the clinical appearance of both Chikungunya and Dengue is similar and reduction in white blood cell count along with platelets has been noted in both. Dengue fever is diagnosed by positive Dengue antibodies in blood by ElISA test.
The Consultant Critical Care at Max hospital Dr. Bhupesh Uniyal said that the complications with Dengue fever appear between the third and fifth day of illness. “It is therefore advisable to watch the patient for two days even after fever disappears,” he said.