Dr Simon Gbene, the Western Regional Director of Veterinary Services has advised the public to avoid mosquito bites and wear protective clothing to prevent Dengue fever.
He said the disease was real and common in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world and was mostly spread to people through the bites of aedes aegypti infected female mosquitoes.
Dr Gbene who made the call in an interview with the Ghana news Agency in Takoradi, explained that though Dengue fever had similar symptoms to malaria, which is caused by a parasite, Dengue fever was caused by a virus.
He educated that there were four serotypes of the dengue virus and that three DEN-1 DENV-2, DENV-3 have been identified in the African region, adding that Burkina Faso had recorded high cases of the disease.
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Dr Gbene said for now there was no vaccine available for dengue fever, and no medications exist to treat dengue infection, adding “this makes prevention the most important step and prevention means avoiding mosquito bites, by using insect repellents, wearing long sleeves and eliminating the containers that hold water and give aquatic stages of mosquitoes a place to develop”
He mentioned server headache with pain behind the eyes, high fever, body aches-muscle, bone and join pains, nausea, and or vomiting and rash as well as mild bleeding from the nose or gums as the symptoms of the disease, which could only be managed with pain killers preferably paracetamol.
He said the western region has not recorded any cases of the disease yet, and, therefore, urged the public to put in place preventive measures to stop the disease from entering the region.
Dr Gbene said the mosquito that caused dengue fever, bites both day and night and advised people to endeavour to wear protective clothes, sleep under treated mosquito nets, rest, drink plenty of fluids and adhered to the advice of health professionals.
He also advised that the people to visit the hospital if they sight any of the symptoms for early diagnosis and management since there was not known drug to cure the disease.
Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah, Regional Director of Health service said though the region has not recorded any case of the disease, his outfit has intensified surveillance in the region and asked the public to avoid mosquito bites.
GNA