Dengue fever with itchy, red skin is normal or abnormal?

The article is professionally consulted by MSc Nguyen Thi Ngoc - General Doctor, General Health Examination Unit, Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.

Dengue fever with typical symptoms are dizziness, headache, nausea, bleeding under the skin. Many people develop a thick itchy rash all over their body, and some even begin to itch after dengue fever.

During the first 3 days, patients with dengue fever will have a high fever, headache, body aches, and eye pain. However, this time is not the most dangerous and there are no complications. Patients can still be treated at home.
The second stage of the disease, that is, around the end of the 3rd to 7th day from the time of fever, the patient will no longer have a high fever as before. But it is this stage that is more dangerous, dangerous complications can occur such as:
Increased vascular permeability, heavy plasma leakage leading to hemoconcentration, decreased blood volume. This is reflected in the test indicators, it may be necessary to give fluids to the patient. Cases of excessive extravasation may lead to warning signs of shock such as: Fatigue, liver pain, nausea, vomiting. In young children, it may only be seen that the child is lethargic or irritable, urinating less, refusing to breastfeed. Hemorrhage due to thrombocytopenia : Patients may have; nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin... Therefore, patients need to go to medical facilities to do tests to evaluate the level of thrombocytopenia. Your doctor may consider intravenous fluids if needed. Severe cases can lead to organ failure.

Itching can appear during or even immediately after a dengue infection. The degree of itching also varies widely. Some people have mild itching, but there are people who suffer from itching so much that it is very miserable, sleepless day and night because of the itch. At that time, patients are often extremely worried, whether itching or redness is normal or not.
In fact, Dengue fever patients with itching are most likely a symptom caused by a virus. This is a sign that the patient is in the recovery phase after the disease. The body in the process of reabsorption of extracellular fluid into the blood and in the skin tissue is recovering from the wounds caused by the rash, resulting in itching.
Usually, the itching symptoms when recovering from dengue fever will go away after a period of 2 to 3 days, in some cases it can take longer, about 1 week, or even up to several weeks.
Some measures can be applied to limit itching caused by dengue fever:
Take vitamin C to strengthen resistance Diet: Eat enough nutrients, limit fatty foods, foods that cause allergies Severe reactions such as seafood, wild meat, ... Soaking hands and feet in warm water, can add salt or lemon juice will help ease the itching. Aloe vera has anti-fungal, antibacterial, and skin-soothing properties, thereby helping the itchy skin to recover quickly. Rubbing coconut oil all over the skin and then soaking and soaking in warm water is also very effective in reducing itching regardless of the cause. Some antihistamines such as Loratadin, Desloratadine, ... can also be used to reduce itching for patients if allowed by the doctor.

Another cause of pruritus may be encountered clinically such as:
Acute hepatitis caused by Dengue virus with hepatomegaly or atrophy. Acute liver failure due to drug use (eg, paracetamol overdose). When liver enzymes SGOT (AST) and SGPT (ALT) are elevated, bilirubin levels are high, leading to mucosal jaundice, itching, and clotting factor disorders. This is a case where the patient is experiencing serious complications and needs to be hospitalized immediately for active monitoring and treatment to avoid possible unfortunate complications.
Therefore, when having dengue fever, especially if there is itching, in addition to reducing fever, the patient should be checked for blood tests and evaluated for the level of thrombocytopenia, liver enzymes to ensure safety. and recover soon.
Currently, there is no vaccine for dengue fever and no specific treatment, so we rely on routes of transmission to proactively prevent dengue. In particular, those who have not yet contracted the disease but live in epidemic areas must actively prevent dengue fever from spreading into a large outbreak. When there are signs of suspicion of dengue fever, they must proactively go to medical facilities or hospitals of Vinmec Health System for examination and treatment to avoid serious illness affecting health. With a system of facilities, modern medical equipment and a team of experts and doctors with many years of experience in medical examination and treatment, patients can rest assured for examination and treatment at General Hospital. Vinmec International Faculty.