Dengue Fever

No, that's not a dance party....far from it.  But if it were, Santarém would be bustin' it up!  Not that dengue is much to brag about but that's the jist of the past week or so.  Some pesky carapanã got ahold of Silvia last week.  You're probably thinking, whoa! that must have hurt!  Well it wasn't the mosquito bite that hurt so much as the dengue symptoms that followed.  (Carapanã is the indigenous word for mosquito and is only used in this region of Brazil.  Interestingly, in southern Brazil the name they use would be translated as "long leg.")

Last Monday brought the fever, aching body, aching eyes, headache, and absolute weakness.  Then as the fever and aching subsided this weekend, came the red rash and slight itching.  But praise the Lord, today is much better and the light at the end of the tunnel is shining!  We had a blood exam done over the weekend to confirm that it was dengue, and it was.  Most people experience the various symptoms anywhere from a couple days to 10 days, depending on the severity of the case.

Santarém has already seen 145 registered cases of DF in January, and our state over 2,000 cases.  But keep in mind that most people don't even go to the doctor to get it checked out, because there is nothing they can do!  You just have to rough it out!  So you stay at home, take a fever reducer, drink water, and lay in your hammock!

Unfortunately, the only way to prevent dengue, is to keep from getting bit by an infected mosquito.  So as they say around here, you have to "wear insect repellent like it's perfume!"  Check out the WHO and the CDC to learn more about Dengue Fever.  Can you smell the DEET?