Dengue fever increases, children hospitalized with warning signs
Patient H.K. T (8 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) was just admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital 2 in a state of dengue fever shock on the 5th day of the disease. The patient continuously bled from the nose when admitted to the hospital, doctors quickly transfused fluids and stopped the bleeding for the patient. However, due to 5 consecutive days of dengue fever, the patient's body was exhausted and mentally panicked, family members and medical staff had to continuously monitor closely, and at the same time actively treat the patient.
According to MSc. Dr. Vu Thi Thuy Duong - Department of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital 2 HCMC, the family shared that when at home, the initial symptoms of the patient such as fever, loss of appetite, fatigue... were easily confused with common diseases, symptoms were vague, so they did not intervene in time at the beginning, until the patient became seriously ill, they were admitted to the hospital for emergency treatment.
MSc. Dr. Vu Thi Thuy Duong said that the number of children with dengue fever hospitalized is on the rise. Currently, the department is treating about 40 children with dengue fever, of which about 5 are severe cases.
Children with dengue fever are often hospitalized in two stages. In the first 1-3 days, children may have a continuous, severe high fever, even high fever causing convulsions. From the 4th-7th day is the dangerous stage, children may show warning signs such as vomiting a lot, severe abdominal pain, especially in the liver or lower right ribs; nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bloody stools or bloody vomiting.
This is a stage when the disease can cause plasma loss, bleeding, leading to shock and organ damage. Therefore, parents need to closely monitor their children, give them enough water and take them to a medical facility when abnormal signs appear.
Dr. Duong said that dengue fever has no specific treatment, mainly symptomatic treatment and monitoring of progression. Children with a fever of more than 3 days need to be taken for examination and testing when indicated to assess the risk of dengue fever.
The initial symptoms of dengue fever are quite vague, possibly similar to many other diseases. When a child has a prolonged fever, especially accompanied by frequent vomiting, abdominal pain, mucosal bleeding, drinking little water or dark urine, it is necessary to take the child to a medical facility for examination and monitoring.
Dengue fever complications, the burden of treatment costs can be billions of VND
Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases said it has just successfully treated two young people with severe dengue fever, at one point close to death. The treatment cost for one case is nearly 1 billion VND.
The first patient was a 16-year-old female student, initially diagnosed with Dengue hemorrhagic fever. After only a few days, the disease progressed to shock, acute respiratory failure, blood clotting disorders, bleeding and multiple organ failure. The patient had to have endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation and use VV-ECMO to support respiration.
After more than a month of treatment, many ECMO membrane changes, blood transfusions and strong antibiotics, the female student recovered. The total treatment cost is about 1 billion VND despite having health insurance.
The second case is a 21-year-old male patient, who started the disease with high fever and fatigue. After the disease became severe, the patient was transferred to the Tropical Diseases Hospital in a state of dengue fever shock, acute liver failure, kidney damage, blood clotting disorders, multiple bleeding and multiple organ failure. The patient had to be ventilated, using vasopressors and continuous blood filtration.
After 45 days of treatment, the patient gradually recovered and was discharged from the hospital. Due to lack of health insurance and difficult circumstances, the family had to manage expenses, and the hospital called for support.
According to doctors, both cases started with seemingly normal symptoms but quickly progressed to a critical condition in the period from the 3rd to the 7th day of the disease.
