Dengue fever not fatal if treated timely: speakers

LAHORE - Speakers at a seminar has said that dengue fever is not a fatal disease if treated timely and the mortality rate among patients of dengue fever has been less than one per cent as compared to malaria and tuberculosis in which it is 10 per cent.

They said that the principal symptoms of dengue are high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pains - severe pain gives it the name of break-bone fever, and rash. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea.

The seminar on dengue fever was held at the University of Health Sciences here on Thursday.

Addressing the seminar, Punjab Health Services Director General Dr Aslam Chaudhry said, “The sooner an affected person consults a physician the better chances of his or her recovery are.”