Diagnosed With Dengue Fever. Not Cured By Medicine. What Treatment Is To Be Done?

Posted on Thu, 1 Nov 2012

Question: dear doc,my girl 14 yrs old is diagnosed to have dengue fever yesterday throgh blood test,she had fever for past 3 days when tested for dengue it was positive,yesterday her platelets count was 0000,but her fever came down and she has no fever and looks normal now,she was tested again today for platelets count and it was about 0000,though she appears normal now,my father in law and bro in law both doctocrs and we currently in thier house and she is given saline and other medicines ,and they have decided to wait for 1 day before thinking of infussing blood,she is o positive,i cant discuss much with them,please guide me ,is it critical are nothing to worry,can we wait for 1 day for further course of treatments,

Answered by Dr. Dr. Asra Ishtiaq Ahmed (27 minutes later)

Hello there,

Thanks for writing to us.

I understand your concern for your daughter and your inability to share the same with your family members. Your daughter is a diagnosed case of Dengue. This condition can result is significant drop in platelets. A drop in platelet below 20,000 is ominous in children and that is why daily monitoring of platelets is needed.

Low platelets can result in bleeds from inside the mouth and in the stools. This is definitely a serious problem. Also vomiting, abdominal distension, altered consciousness along with drop in blood pressure are some of the important factors which will be carefully monitored during her home stay. I expect the doctors to be monitoring them. So the doctors in the house certainly will keep these things in mind and must have drawn out a plan for transfusing her if platelets continue to drop.

So although her condition remains serious, she is under good vigilance. Kindly wait for 1 more day for further management.

I hope I have allayed your anxiety. Let me know if you have other enquiries.

Wishing your child a speedy recovery...

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad