Pay attention when bathing patients with dengue fever

The article was professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi Nhat - Infectious Disease Specialist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital

When suffering from dengue fever, many patients abstain from bathing and washing for fear that bathing in water will make them sick and have a worse fever. However, this is not a good habit. So what is the right way to shower when you have dengue fever?

Dengue fever is a common disease in Vietnam, transmitted to healthy people by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito. The typical manifestation of dengue fever is that the patient has a high fever and hemorrhagic spots under the skin, blood tests show low platelets.
In the early stages, the body temperature can be up to 39 - 40 degrees Celsius. From the 3rd to 7th day after fever, severe symptoms of dengue fever begin to appear. At this point, the patient may have reduced or no fever. When the patient recovered, the fever was gone and his condition started to get better. The platelet count gradually increased and returned to normal.

When sick with dengue fever, patients are often worried, not knowing if they can take a bath, some patients choose to wipe themselves with warm water. Especially many young children with weak health, parents are always worried that they do not dare to bathe their children, fearing that their children will get sick or have a worse fever.
However, the fact is that when infected with dengue fever, the patient can completely bathe normally. Patients just need to be careful not to bathe and soak in water for a long time, shower with moderately warm water. Never bathe with cold water. If you wash your hair, especially women with thick hair, you should dry it, avoid leaving your hair wet for a long time, making the body cold.

Particularly in the case of low-platelet hemorrhagic fever, you need to avoid vigorous scrubbing because it will cause bleeding under the skin or in the muscles, which is extremely dangerous. Increased vascular permeability, thrombocytopenia... usually appear in the middle stage, from day 3 to day 7 of the disease and cause hemorrhagic spots of varying degrees under the skin, red in color or bruises, the patient may also experience nosebleeds or bleeding gums. Bleeding under the skin often appears on the front of the legs, the inside of the arms, abdomen, thighs...
Therefore, during this time, you should limit bathing because it will cause the vessel walls to dilate. severe, making bleeding worse. It is best to use a warm towel to wipe your body.

If for some reason the patient needs to bathe, the patient should be bathed with warm water. Absolutely do not use cold water to bathe because it will cause the skin vessels to contract, the internal vessels to dilate, leading to a very high risk of death.
Therefore, depending on the case and the patient's severe or mild condition, depending on the stage of the disease to decide whether the patient should take a bath or not.